Love Loyalty Family
by pinkwolf1620
Summary: Felicity has an illness in her family. When a rouge doctor uses her to find a cure while messing with her mind Oliver readily jumps in to save his girl. Felicity learns the person she SHOULD be loyal to isn't the same person she IS loyal to.
1. Sacrifice

Her head was swimming, she was dizzy and her body felt heavy yet lighter than air at the same time. Gingerly, Felicity tried to move her arm up but found that it was secured to her side.

Felicity was strapped down to an operating table.

"H-He-Hello?" she croaked to the open air

"You're awake sweetheart. Finally" a male voice came from her left "we can begin" he sounded pleased as he came into view and Felicity bit back a gasp of surprise. 

"F-Father?" Felicity asked stupidly _who else would it be? _She mentally slapped herself for being so naïve "please let me go!" the fear clear as day in her voice "please, no more testing! I can't take anymore"

"It's alright darling" the man soothed her by stroking her cheek "it will all be over soon, just one more and it'll all be over" he nodded and then gestured for one of his assistants to bring over a syringe and proceeded to applying a saline solution to her arm before getting the needle ready.

Felicity looked away, knowing the pain that would come. She hated needles ever since she was a child. Tears were falling freely down her face now.  
She didn't dare make a sound as the needle went in but inside she was screaming and begging for Oliver to come and save her, to end her pain.

"How long for this to take effect, Sir?" the assistant asked

"30-35 minutes I think. Then we will see if I have reached a break through!" his voice was laced with pride and, Felicity thought comically, slight madness.

Felicity preyed that whatever they had given her would knock her out so she would have _some _sort of escape from this hell! She turned her head away from them and shut her eyes tightly _Oliver, Diggle, Sara or Roy if you can hear me PLEASE help me! _She sobbed openly now and her Father placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder telling her that it was all OK.

Everything was not OK as the unmistakable sound of an arrow smashing through glass came to her ears _Oliver had come_. Felicity smiled bigger than she had in days as her Father tried to block her from the intruders view pulling a curtain across so that her bed was concealed

"_WHERE IS SHE!_" The Arrow's voice was dangerous as he notched another arrow and pointed it at the doctors heart, he repeated it slowly yet it didn't lose its threatening tone "where…is…she!" Oliver stalked closer as the doctor tried to stall him.

"My daughter is doing just fine" Felicity's father smiled as he raised his hands "she'll be cured and be as perfect as she always should have been in 30 minutes" he added confidently  
The Arrow clenched his jaw and unleashed his arrow, it found its target in the doctors arm intentionally missing the heart.

The Arrow roared "_she was already perfect!_" he came forward and knocked out the assistant then grabbed the doctor "now where is Felicity!"

"O-Oliver? That you?"

Felicity's voice hit Oliver like a freight train, his heart swelled as he punched the doctor and ripped the curtain back. A sigh of relief escaped him as he saw her, his girl.

Felicity threw back her head as fresh happy tears fell from her eyes "oh thank god! Oliver! Oliver you found me!" she said over and over as he cut through her bonds and lifted her into his arms

"I'm going to get you out of here" Oliver vowed as Felicity cradled against him and breathed in his scent as she said only his name.

Oliver voiced the Diggle that they were making their way out when several pairs of hands grabbed Oliver and pulled him to the ground, he reluctantly dropped Felicity who roughly rolled away but called his name in a panicked voice.

The Doctor was awake, he was holding his arm and ordering his men to restrain Oliver all the while trying his best to stop Felicity from running to him. Felicity cried out and begged for them to release Oliver when an idea came to her.

"Take me! Take me and let him go!"

Her father looked at her "What?"

"You heard me! Let him go and I will go with you! You can test on me for as long as you want just please let me go! If you let me go he won't come after you!" her voice shrieked as one man landed a punch to Oliver's face "I promise I'll be yours!"

Oliver couldn't believe his ears, Felicity was sacrificing herself for him!?

"Felicity!" his plea was met with another punch and another cry from Felicity

"Please! Please let him go!" Felicity clawed at her father's arm

"Alright!" Felicity sighed in relief as the men let Oliver go, her father eyed her "I let him go and you're mine"

"YES! Thank you!" she cried as Oliver dropped to the ground "I'm yours!" she looked at Oliver with fear and sorrow "can I…can I say goodbye at least?"

"No. Send him outside!" the men started to drag Oliver out of the room when Felicity started begging again

"PLEASE! I can't not say goodbye to him! Please just one goodbye and then I'll never talk to him again! Just give us a minute" her father nodded and waved his men out of the room.

Felicity ran to Oliver and flung her arms around his neck, Oliver held her as tight as he dared before holding her at arm's length "Felicity what are you doing!? You can't stay here with him!"

"I have to Oliver! He'll hurt you otherwise"

"NO! I will not let you do this! You're coming with me right now!" Oliver pulled her towards the window "watch your step, glass"

"No Oliver! You're always protecting me now it's my turn to protect you" Felicity pulled away and stood stiff "Please Oliver, I can't lose you" she whispered in a shaky voice

"I told you, you're not going to lose me" Oliver said softly and put his gloved hands on her shoulders "But please we have to go now!"

Felicity knew their time was nearly up, that this was the last time she would see him again, she was desperate to show him that she needed to keep him safe, that she didn't want him hurt; she stared deeply into his eyes.  
Felicity could hear the lock on the door moving, they had no time left, Felicity braced herself before crushing her lips to Oliver's.

Oliver was taken aback when her lips found his, she was passionate and pleading for him to return the kiss, and he didn't need to be told twice. He kissed her back with equal passion, his arms wrapped protectively around her as they were surrounded yet again.  
Felicity was ripped from him she screamed and kicked trying to get to Oliver.

The doctor came back in, pushed her toward the door and gave orders for Oliver to be killed. A gunshot rang through the air, drowning out Felicity's scream, and planted itself in Oliver's chest.

A birds cry, a determined grunt and more bullets followed as Felicity was pulled to the door, fighting against her father "NO! OLIVER! YOU LIED!" The last part was directed at her father, Felicity caught sight of Sara and Roy but the door closed and they were gone.

**A/N: I have planned the first three chapters of this story. I hope you like this idea! The illness in the story (that has not been mentioned yet) is real but I am not a doctor and everything else involving illness/treatment/symptoms etc are made up by me for creative reasons/flair.**

A/N2: Read and review if you wish 3


	2. The First Wave

**A/N: The first chapter of this story was non-linier. Everything from this chapter onward will be linier so it won't get too confusing. Enjoy!**

Felicity opened her eyes at the sound of her alarm beeping loudly. She smacked her hand on it to reset it and got up, the truth was: she had actually been awake for hours and could feel her body resisting as she got out of bed and padded softly to the bathroom.  
She ignored the mirror – knowing that after the nights' sleep she had she must look horrible so she went straight to brushing her teeth.

Filling the basin with hot water, she screwed her eyes shut as the images from last nights' nightmare flashed through her mind

_Slade was standing over Oliver, katana in hand and dripping with blood. Her knight in green leather lay, groaning in pain, in an ever growing pool of dark red.  
Felicity looked around for Sara, Diggle and Roy but they too were in bad shape. Wounds on their bodies inflicted by hands powered by Mirakuru and the sharp blade. None of them spoke._

_Felicity begged Slade to spare them as he came toward her, hoping to see her in as much pain as her team. She was on her knees, the blade at her neck, begging to let her team go and for him to do whatever he wanted to her._

_Slade growled "I want you to see the pain your Oliver has brought on me!" Felicity screamed for Oliver so loud it burned her throat_

__Felicity spat the toothpaste out of her mouth and put her toothbrush back in its holder, she brushed her hair and put it up in its usual ponytail before looking around in her closet for something to wear that day.

She picked a fitted pink dress with matching shoes and silver studs for her ears. Picking up her bag and spraying on some perfume she quickly left for the office.

Felicity was thankful that Oliver was in meetings all morning because as soon as he saw her he asked questions 'are you alright?' being the first, she shrugged it off and told him that she simply had a bad night sleep. Oliver looked over his shoulder, the meeting was starting, he sighed annoyingly and left her to her work.

Nothing stopped him from sneaking glances at her though.

Felicity typed away at her computer, putting in names here, a date there and other information about Queen Consolidated as needed. All of this seemed meaningless compared to her 'night job' down in the Arrowcave: looking up bad guys, guiding Oliver to their location, running facial recognition and then alerting Lance that they found someone for him to go pick up.

Things were slow right now, she looked up from her computer to find Oliver still talking in his meeting, she thought that now would be a perfect time. Opening up a new tab, she typed in the title of a medical journal and began sifting through information until she found what she was looking for:

**Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome**

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) is a type of brain disorder caused by a lack of vitamin B1. The syndrome is actually two separate conditions that can occur at the same time. Usually you'll experience symptoms of Wernicke's encephalopathy first.

Symptoms of WKS

Prominent symptoms of WD are:

_**Double vision **_

_**A drooping upper eyelid **_

_**Up and down or side-to-side eye movements**_

_**Loss of muscle coordination**_

_**Confused mental state**_

Patients who have WKS have a variety of issues relating to memory. Other Symptoms include:

_**Difficulty understanding the meaning of information**_

_**Difficulty putting words into context**_

_**Hallucinations**_

_**Exaggerated Storytelling**_

Felicity was so lost in reading that she didn't hear Oliver shake hands with and say goodbye to the men in the meeting, they all filed out of the office and headed for the elevator.  
Oliver groaned and stretched before saying "Thank God that's over, are there any more meetings or are we done for the day?"

Felicity didn't answer him. Oliver came forward and caught a glimpse on what was holding her attention, a medical journal?

"Felicity, what're you reading there?" he asked, Felicity snapped out of it and quickly changed the tab but there was no denying that he had seen at least some of it

"Nothing. Nothing just catching up on some more work" Felicity tried to smile convincingly and then looked at their schedule "it seems that was the last meeting this morning, and it's…wow lunch time!" she sounded excited

"Felicity, why were you reading a medical journal? Are you alright?" Oliver asked in a concerned yet friendly way

"Yeah. Yeah, just didn't sleep well last night is all" she sighed knowing that wouldn't be enough to satisfy him, she reluctantly went on "I'm just reading up on my mother's medical condition, it's caused by a lack of Vitamin B1 in your body. Mum was diagnosed a few years ago. She's doing better now but there doesn't seem to be a 'real' cure"

Oliver nodded "if there is anything I can do to help, you know that I'm here for you. Diddle and the rest of the team too" he touched her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze sending butterflies swirling in her stomach.

Felicity nodded and thanked him "I know, thank you Oliver but I think I'll go to lunch"

"I'll join you" he smiled, grabbed his wallet and guided her to the elevator.

Oliver couldn't help but feel worried about her. Felicity looked tired and frazzled, maybe she _actually hadn't _gotten enough sleep, he reasoned that if something was really bothering her that she would tell him. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that she was hiding something else and that it had something to do with that journal. 

* * *

Felicity breathed a sigh of relief as she opened her front door, she was finally home. She kicked off her heels and dropped her bag on the lounge on her way to the kitchen hoping to devour some mint chip and watch some crappy TV.

As she grabbed a spoon and the ice cream, heading for the lounge room again she noticed something different. Felicity walked back to into the kitchen and knew that something was amiss; then she found it.

Her calendar that was usually hanging straight on the wall now hung lopsided and a date was circled. _Maybe I forgot that I had a doctor's appointment? _Felicity peered closer and then dropped the mint chip with a loud thud. Tuesday next week was circled in red but nothing else was written there. Nothing _needed _to be written there, Felicity already knew what that date was.

The Anniversary of her Fathers disappearance.

**A/N: I hope you liked this. The illness in this story is real.**

A/N2: Sorry to leave it on a cliff hanger but I'm so excited to give you guys the next chapter! As always Read and Review you guys give me so much inspiration!


	3. Spiders!

The only sound inside the van was the unmistakable typing of on a keyboard, he had been at this for 30 minutes and he still couldn't get in. His girl was good he had to admit but he was better. Who was the one who taught her all about security?  
A few more clicks, a little more typing and he was in "OK the alarm is down, you have five minutes. Do it!"

A man exited the van shutting the door behind him, Queen Consolidated loomed over him _five minutes?! It'll take me that long to get to the top floor! _But he didn't say it aloud knowing his boss wouldn't like it.  
The elevator was easy enough to find, it was very early in the morning so there wasn't a line. He pushed the button for the top floor and waited as he started to move up.

Oliver Queens office was HUGE and impressive sadly the intruder didn't have time to dawdle, he found the coffee maker in the little area not far from the EAs desk "I found it, sir"

"Good, now put it in the coffee and get out of there!" Came his bosses harsh reply

Taking a small bag out of his pocket he opened the coffee tin and sliced the bag open, smiling as an odourless white power laced with another drug fell and mixed in with the coffee. He shook it a couple of times for good measure and then left.

"Sir" he sounded worried as he spoke into his little microphone "how do we know she is even going to take it? What if she doesn't _want _coffee? What if her boss drinks it instead?"

"She vowed never to get him coffee, I think we're good"

Once he found the van and got into the passenger seat, they drove away.

"All done, Sir but what do we do now?" he asked

"Now, we go to her house, do the same thing and wait to see the fruits of our labour!" the driver smiled as if it were Christmas morning and he had gotten everything he wanted "this has been 20 years in the making!" he laughed as he pushed the van to go as fast as it could. 

* * *

Felicity rubbed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn't have another nightmare last night but the calendar thing freaked her out so much that, for the second night in a row, she hardly slept again.

If she didn't write on her calendar then…he had been in her house! It was late at night when Felicity had come to that conclusion and she had yet to tell the others but she was waiting for the right time. Felicity hadn't spoken much about her family and now that her Father was back she knew that she needed her team but this was going to be hard.

Years ago, her father was an up and coming doctor who specialty was the brain and mental illnesses, he also taught her all that he knew about computers. She was thankful for that but it wasn't until her mother had come down with her illness that she saw her Fathers true colors.  
He became obsessed with finding a cure for her, he would go days without eating or drinking anything, at the time Felicity admired her dad for working so hard and even found it romantic that he would work SO hard to save the one he loved.

When he left early one night he said he was going to check on some scans of her mother's brain at work, she expected him back for dinner but she never heard from him again. Her mother was heartbroken and, now that she was older, Felicity was furious with her Father.

Why was he back now? What did he want? Had he found a cure?

Painful questions raced through her mind as she went over to pour herself some coffee _come on Felicity! Wake the hell up! _She shook her head roughly and held the steaming brew to her nose and inhaled with a sigh. She took a sip and smiled and went back to her work.

Oliver was in his office doing paper work when it happened. Felicity just randomly jumped up and squealed "Spiders!" she ran from her desk to the coffee area and grabbed two paper cups and slammed them down on two separate places on her desk.

Oliver immediately rushed to her side, ready to take on this new threat "Where? Are you OK? Did you get bitten?"

"No, no I'm OK Oliver. I trapped them!" Felicity smiled triumphantly "I'll take them outside, Oliver"

"I can take one if you want? The paperwork can wait"

Felicity grabbed a piece of paper, slid it under the cup and picked it up, the spider was now trapped. Felicity shivered as she made her way to the elevator "Let's hope he doesn't escape on the way down!" she laughed "I'll come back for the other one"

The doors closed and she was gone.

Oliver sighed, taking the other cup and putting some paper under it he made his way to the stairs _no sense in coming back again _he reasoned. While on the stairs, a draft caught the cup and sent it wafting to the floor, Oliver jumped not wanting to get bitten but something, or rather nothing, caught him by surprise; the cup was empty.

Oliver searched for the spider but there was no evidence that it had been there. Maybe it had gotten away? Oliver liked that idea but he remembered not even feeling it moving as he walked. If Felicity had been wrong but the spider, was there even a spider in _her _cup?

Oliver rubbed his head. Felicity had imagined them.

**A/N: This was a little difficult to write, you got a little backstory on Felicity's Father and more will come. SHE WAS DRUGGED!**

**A/N2: I know that the rest of the team isn't in here much but in the next chapter they will be.**

**Read and Review! Tell me what you think! Xxx**


	4. Symptoms

Felicity was thankful that Oliver let her have the afternoon off; she was feeling horrible. Ever since that morning and after the spider attack she was feeling a little sick, she also felt Goosebumps on her skin and had insisted on having the heater on in the office despite Oliver saying that it wasn't that cold.  
She was also experiencing a major headache and was breaking out in a cold sweat.

When she got home she had a hot shower to clean herself off, put on some warmer clothes and headed for the lair – she might feel like crap but Oliver and her team needed her to run scans, look up info and try to find another target for Oliver. They needed her and that was that. 

* * *

The only one in the lair when she got there was Sara and she was so wrapped up in training that she didn't notice Felicity come until she sat down and booted up her computers "Hey Felicity" she said with a smile as she stopped training and reached for a towel

"Hey Sara" Felicity said without looking at her, too fixated on her programs

Sara's eyes narrowed as she stared at the blonde "Hey" Sara came up to Felicity's side and touched her shoulder "are you ok? No offence but you don't look so good" she took a note of all her symptoms

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just might be coming down with a cold"

"Then you should go home" Sara said matter-of-factly "and rest until you're better" Sara reached out to touch her forehead "you're a little warm, maybe take off a layer or two?" she gestured to Felicity's warm attire

"If I do that I'll just be cold again and put them back on, I can already feel the Goosebumps again" Felicity grumbled and started rubbing her arms "the office was freezing today as well! Took me ages to convince Oliver to turn the heat up"

Sara didn't like what she was hearing one bit, she wanted Felicity to go home and would talk to Oliver and Diggle as soon as they came in, she sighed "OK, if you say you're fine…just don't stay here longer than you need to" the last statement came out like an order but she softened it with a friendly smile.

Oliver, Diggle and Roy came in soon after their exchange laden with bags of food from Big Belly Burger "Food time!" Roy announced and started unpacking and giving each member of the team their share, he walked over and offered Felicity hers _I didn't think it was winter yet? _He thought to himself.

Sara pulled Oliver and Diggle aside quietly "Do you see that?" she gestured to Felicity "it's like she is dressed for winter, has she been like this all day?"

"Pretty much, yeah" Oliver stated in a concerned tone "she asked me to put the heat up after she took some spiders outside"

"Spiders?" Diggle asked "Our girl hates spiders!"

"That's not the only thing, _there weren't any spiders to begin with!_" at their confused faces Oliver went on "yeah, she said she caught these spiders out of nowhere, trapped them and took one outside. I thought I would help out and get rid of the other one but there wasn't anything there!"

"You're saying she made it up?" Roy came over to them, mouth half full of food

"No, she was 100% sure there were spiders on her desk"

"Also, she has a slight temperature, complaining of being cold and she has Goosebumps. She might be coming down with a cold?" Sara added "but if she is seeing things it might be something else"

Oliver wanted to know what was going on, he went to Felicity and placed a hand on her shoulder "Hey, you ok?" he asked in his soft voice "you don't look so good"

Felicity rubbed her forehead roughly before turning to Oliver "my head hurts is all" she opened her eyes when she spoke "can you turn the heat up?"

Oliver had had enough "Diggle, can you drive Felicity home please? I don't want her here any longer" his tone was so order-like Felicity didn't try to argue, she just said goodbye to the rest of the team and followed Diggle out.

"I hardly got anything done! Tomorrow I'm going to work twice as hard!" Felicity vowed 

* * *

Diggle started up the car and they headed to her house, on the way he couldn't help sneaking glances at her checking to make sure she wasn't cold, she might not be cold but she was pale and her skin had a shine to it that could only be sweat "Maybe you should take it easy tomorrow, I'll tell Oliver that you're taking a sick day?"

Felicity didn't answer but rested her head on the window, hoping that tomorrow would be better. Then out of nowhere a dog ran out onto the road, she cried out for Diggle to stop the car, he slammed on the breaks.  
The dog halted and then scampered off into the bushes on the side of the road, Felicity was grateful but Diggle was confused

"What?! What's wrong?!"

"Th-that dog! We almost hit a dog! Didn't you see it?" Felicity pointed to the bushes where the dog had disappeared

"No…no I guess I…I guess I didn't have my mind on the road" He apologised and continued driving. Felicity lay her head back on the window and closed her eyes, she gripped her hands together after realising they were shaking slightly. Maybe a sick day wouldn't be so bad tomorrow?

Diggle watched closely as Felicity walked to her front door, took a key out and opened it, she turned and waved "Thanks Dig!"

Diggle waved back and phoned Oliver to say that she had got home safe "Thanks Dig, we need you back here though"

"Be there soon" Dig hung up the phone and drove away. 

* * *

After a nice hot shower, ignoring the fact that she had already had one, Felicity got into some comfy pants and an oversized thick jumper and went to the kitchen. After not eating the food the Oliver got for her, she was starving and opted to heat some left over soup, she sat down on to counter and thought about the day.

Oliver had seen what she was looking at. Her mother's illness. Maybe he hadn't really seen that much? Felicity shook her head _the man's got eyes like a cat. There is no way he would miss it _tomorrow she would go and see Oliver and explain. Felicity hoped that she would be feeling better by then.

The microwave beeped and Felicity attacked it hungrily, there was a strange taste to it but then leftover food didn't taste as good as it did when it was fresh so she ignored it and finished the bowl.  
Feeling slightly better she placed her bowl in the sink and went to watch some TV in her room.

On the way to her room she started to feel sick again, her head felt lighter than air, her hands started to shake and the Goosebumps sprouted all over her body, her joints started to hurt as well. Something was seriously wrong, her body searing with pain Felicity walked as fast as she could to her bathroom and emptied her stomach, the bile mixed with soup burned her throat as it came up. Felicity tried to focus on deep breathing as she was sick again and again.

Feeling worse than she had before, stomach now empty again, Felicity crawled into bed and hugged her body close with the heavy quilt pulled right up to her chin. She felt like crying. She needed help but she couldn't find the strength to get up and look for her phone. Instead, all she could do was lay there until exhaustion and sleep overtook her and everything went black. 

* * *

Oliver paced the lair up and down and up again "there has to be _something _that gives us a clue to finding out what's wrong with her" he growled, Diggle had come back and told them about the dog "What are her symptoms?" he went through them one by one out loud "Goosebumps and feeling cold, not eating, sweating and headaches"

"Sounds like a regular cold to me" Roy added

"Then what about the hallucinations?" Sara pointed out "the spiders and almost hitting the dog?"

"She was looking at something on her computer while I was in a meeting, I got a tiny look at it before she changed the tab on her computer" Oliver thought for a moment before he remembered "it was a medical journal! She said something about her mother's illness – caused by a lack of Vitamin B-something"

"Can you find the journal?" Sara went to the computer and tried to find the search history but came up blank "she's deleted the search history, clearly didn't want anyone to find what she was looking at, including us" she sighed

"She's taking a sick day tomorrow, Oliver. If you want I could check in on her?" Diggle stepped closer to Oliver "maybe ask her what's going on"

"Did you want me to go too?" Sara turned in the computer chair and faced Oliver "she might need serious help if this is about her being sick or something"

Oliver nodded his thanks and told them to call tomorrow and update him on Felicity's condition.

**A/N: OK! They're worrying about poor Felicity and rightly so! I wanted to put a more dramatic hallucination in this chapter but decided that it was WAY to delicious and needed a chapter of its own! Can't wait to write and for you guys to read it!**

**Read and Review! Any feedback/suggestions is very much appreciated Xxx**


	5. The Truth

It was well passed noon when Felicity finally woke up, she groaned and stretched whilst she sat up in bed. After last night she fully expected to feel like crap but right now; she felt fine, still not 100% but much better.  
She got out of bed and went to the kitchen _after last night better not eat too much _she thought and put some bread in the toaster _just toast and then I'll go see the team _Felicity decided with a small smile.

After breakfast Felicity had a shower and washed all the dried sweat from last night off her body, she concluded that it was just food poisoning and would throw out the rest of the soup.  
Dragging a brush through her wet hair Felicity dressed herself back into her comfy clothes and went to find her phone in her bag – there were three miss calls and 2 messages _Oliver _she couldn't help but smile and feel her face flush.

Just as she was about to message Oliver she turned and nearly dropped her phone "Oliver?!" Felicity jumped and clutched her chest "I was just about to…I got all your calls…I" _why is Oliver in his Arrow gear? _"Oliver! It's the middle of the day!" she gestured to Oliver's attire

"I was worried about you" the voice modulator made his voice deep and smooth, making Felicity go weak at the knees, Oliver stepped closer to her, placing his bow on her lounge

"It was just food poisoning, I'm fine now" Felicity assured him "what's wrong? Why are you in your suit, are you following a lead? Do you need my help?" Felicity quickly found her tablet and turned it on asking for names, dates, anything that Oliver might already have

Oliver silently shook his head and took her tablet from her hands, placing it back on her lounge "Felicity" that one word, her name, sounded like beautiful music out of his mouth

"What do you need?" Felicity seemed confused

"I need you to be safe, you're not safe right now"

"What are you talking about?"

"I said that I could protect you and I meant it. I can keep you safe, you're important to me and the team" his voice, if it were possible, became softer as he invaded her personal space and cupped his hand to her cheek, staring deep into her eyes "trust me to keep you safe"

"I do" she wasn't sure if what she said could be audible as Oliver went one step further and gently hovered his lips over hers seemingly asking for permission "Oliver…" the rest of whatever she said was lost as lips met lips.

Felicity had _dreamed _of this moment but now that it was finally here, she had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Oliver took the lead and deepened the kiss, bringing his hand to that sensitive spot behind her ear and rubbing it in feather light touches enticing a small whimper out of her. Oliver smiled against her lips.

Finally, Felicity's mind started working, reluctantly, she broke the kiss and stepped back "What are you doing?!" her voice wavered a little

Oliver stared back at her

"Oliver _what are you doing_?" shock fuelling her ability to speak now "Wh-why did you come here?"

"I need to keep you safe"

"What about Sara?" the mention of Sara seemed to dumbfound Oliver so Felicity went on "you're with _her _Oliver! _Sara_! Not me! And last time I checked: my hair isn't naturally blonde, I don't have a sister and my last name isn't LANCE!" Felicity was angry, she came forward and poked his chest "I am _not _that kind of girl Oliver!"

"I'm…I"

"WHAT OLIVER? You're what? Only trying to protect me? Well I have the rest of the team too, they can protect me…from getting hurt" she turned away, feeling tears in her eyes "I think you should go" she didn't stop them as they fell one after the other wetting her face with all the sadness and confusion of what had happened.

Oliver still hadn't left, he stood there behind her and watched her cry, Felicity grew tired of being near him and asked him to leave once again. Not hearing receding footsteps, Felicity turned sharply and used all the emotion she was feeling to scream at him "I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU ANYMORE!" Felicity was shouting into open air. She was alone.

Oliver wasn't there; his bow was gone from her lounge. It was like he was never there. 

* * *

Sara and Diggle drove over to Felicity's house that afternoon, both worried about their IT Girl. They reached her house in record time, Diggle not exactly obeying the speed limits, and approached the front door. They knocked and waited for Felicity to answer.

Diggle gave Felicity a warm smile when she came and answered the door "Hey Felicity, are you feeling any better?"

Felicity stepped aside to let them in, not really giving Sara eye contact, "Much better, thanks guys. Can I get you something to eat? Drink?"

"No thanks Felicity, we just wanted to see how you were doing. Oliver was worried about you after yesterday" Sara explained and it didn't escape her attention that Felicity seemed to flinch ever so slightly at the mention of Oliver "are you sure you're OK?"

"I'm fine" Felicity said a little too seriously "You didn't need to come, Oliver came and checked up on me earlier today" she wouldn't look at either one of them now, like she was embarrassed

"He did?" Diggle questioned "he told us he would be at the office all day today?"

"Well he made time to come and see me!" Felicity snapped rudely "I was fine then and I'm fine now!"

Sara didn't believe her for a second "You don't seem fine. Why don't you tell us what happened?"

Seeing as they weren't going to give up, Felicity took a deep breath and explained that Oliver had come to her earlier that day, all dressed in his Arrow gear and told her that he would keep her safe.

"It was the middle of the day and he was dressed as The Arrow? That doesn't sound like Oliver" Sara thought out loud looking at Diggle

Felicity could see the silent conversation going on between them, the looks of confusion mixed with concern and she could see that they knew she was holding something back. Felicity had left out the part where Oliver kissed her. They urged her to come to the Foundry and tell Oliver, despite Felicity's protects and the fact that Oliver already knew in her mind.

"Please Felicity, just come with us and we can all talk about this together" Diggle smiled and held Felicity by the arm, not exactly giving her a choice but letting her know that they were there for her.

Felicity gave in and allowed them to usher her into the car and together they all arrived at the Foundry, Felicity's mouth went dry at the thought of seeing Oliver so soon after their…meeting? But with Diggle and Sara and Roy there with her it seemed easy enough to be in the same room with him.

Oliver let go a sigh of relief at seeing Felicity walk into the Foundry and went over to meet her, she smiled but didn't return his greeting "how is she?" he asked Sara and Diggle as they entered "do you know what's wrong?"

"I think you had better hear it from her, man" Diggle said gently gesturing to Felicity who had taken her place at her computers but wasn't facing them, she sat with her hands in her lap and her head looking down.

Oliver slowly walked over the Felicity "Hey, what's up? How's my favourite IT Girl?" he tried to lighten the mood

"Sara and John think it's a good idea that I talk to you" Felicity's voice was soft and hesitant "about my day today"

"I hope you got a lot of rest after yesterday"

"Oh I did. You made sure of that" Felicity said pointedly

Oliver was confused and looked at Sara and Digg for confirmation, when they did nothing but gestured for Felicity to continue Oliver waited for the explanation

"You came to my house, Oliver. Dressed as The Arrow, at first I thought you were on a mission but that couldn't be right since you never go out Arrowing in the middle of the day because that would be crazy!" Felicity saw how confused Oliver was _why does he not remember? _And went on "you said you needed to keep me safe and that you asked me to trust you"

All of this was news to Oliver's ears but nothing prepared him for the highlight:

"Oliver…you…you kissed me" Felicity could feel tears in her eyes and suddenly felt very embarrassed with Oliver looking at her, she avoided his eyes

"Felicity…I…we…." Oliver was at a loss for words and tried to keep his voice as normal as possible "Felicity, I never came to your house today and I…I never kissed you"

"You're saying I'm lying? That I made it up because it felt pretty real at the time!"

"No, I'm not saying that you made it up, I am not saying that but we need to talk about this and what's been happening lately" Oliver said comfortingly "starting with that medical journal you were reading, you don't need to tell me everything but we all need to understand"

Felicity looked around at Oliver, Diggle and Sara and sort of half smiled. They were her team, her friends and her family, she could tell them anything and right now was the time to let them in.  
She launched into what had been going on, talking about the day her mother was diagnosed, her father working hard to save her and then disappearing out of their lives. Felicity was seated in her computer chair and, sometime during her story, Oliver placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and watched her intently.

"I read the medical journals once a month in case my dad's name comes up or anything about my mother's illness, that's when you caught me looking at one Oliver. I didn't tell you because I didn't think you needed to know. I'm sorry"

"It's OK Felicity, we're here now" Oliver promised "now…about the dog and spiders and…me in your house"

"They didn't happen? We never kissed?" Felicity couldn't hide the relief mixed with sadness at the realization "not that it was a bad kiss or anything it was actually pretty good but you were with Sara and I just didn't want you two-timing again and – I'll shut up now" Felicity blushed after her rant and saw Oliver shake his head and smile softly too

"We need to work out how and why Felicity is having these hallucinations, you don't think it's your mothers illness?" he asked

"No, all I have are the hallucinations and my diet is pretty good, considering the amount of Big Belly Burger we all eat at night. It couldn't be that but I'll make an appointment with my GP for as soon as possible" Felicity nodded and then thought about going back to her house alone "what if it happens again? The hallucinations?"

"I could stay with her, Oliver" Sara volunteered "I'll look after her and let you know if she is having another hallucination"

"Good, it's settled then. Once we know more we can figure out what our next step will be" Diggle felt better now that things were getting underway "Sara, did you want to go pick up a few things from Oliver's before heading over to Felicity's?"

"Yeah, let's go"

Sara, Felicity and Diggle got into Diggle's car and drove around to the Queen Mansion, they were silent on the ride there and still silent on the way to Felicity's house. Sara was content to leave Felicity to her own thoughts, not wanting to pry, and knew that Felicity would come to her if she wanted to talk.

**A/N: YAY AN OLICITY KISS! Even if it was all in Felicity's mind, I still had a LOT of fun writing it. I did intend for it to be a little bit longer but might save that sort of kiss for later (might be real or it still might be in her head WHO KNOWS?)**

**A/N2: I know this ended on a rather…dull note but I didn't want to end it on just the kiss. Oliver and the rest of Team Arrow needed to know.**

**A/N3: If it wasn't clear to some: all the food in Felicity's kitchen was laced with the same drugs that are giving her hallucinations.**

Read and Review! Suggestions are welcome and feedback is appreciated

** xxx**


	6. Appointment

It was early morning when the news came through about the girl, the boss's daughter had made an appointment with her doctor for 10:00AM – perfect. The man smiled as he put the phone down and went to tell his boss, he would be pleased that the plan was going ahead and at such a nice fast pace too.

The Doctor smiled at his assistant "Has she made an appointment?"

"This morning at ten, Sir"

"Good, you know what you have to do? Take the place of her usual doctor – make up some cover story I don't care – give her our 'cure' and keep tabs on her for the rest of the week. We only bring her in if we have to" his voice was stern and powerful "and under no circumstances is she to come to any harm or I'll test _you_ – do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir. I'll give her the cure and monitor her progress"

"Her appointment is at ten, better get started" the Doctor grinned and dismissed his assistant, today was the beginning. 

* * *

Felicity sat in the waiting room with Sara who had offered to come with her, Felicity had thanked Sara and felt better now that she had a friend there for support. Usually she would come alone and she hated the awkwardness of sitting there all quiet and not talking to anyone.

When Felicity's name was called she nearly jumped "I'm right out here if you need me" Sara squeezed her hand

"It feels good to have The Canary look out for me" Felicity whispered and smiled at the use of her friends Vigilantly name, Sara only smiled back and watched her enter the doctor's office.

Once inside she greeted her doctor and sat on the little bed/table reserved for patience but was confused when the doctor turned around "Where's Doctor Erin?" she asked the new guy

"I'm sorry but Doctor Erin came down with The Flu and asked me to fill in for him today" this new doctor was cute but Felicity pushed that out of her mind when he started asking question "So, Miss Smaok, what seems to be troubling you?"

Felicity launched into what had been happening, leaving out specific details of some hallucinations, before giving him a small backstory of her mother's history with the illness, all the while the doctor smiled, nodded along and wrote down notes as he listened.

When Felicity finally stopped talking the doctor flipped through his notes before opening her personal file he had found in his filing cabinet "Well, Miss Smoak since this is only the first time you have had these hallucinations and given you have a history of this in your family I think it's best that, for now we put you on this new medication" he put her file down and went over to his table laden with instruments, boxes of pills and small bottles of liquid.

He picked one up along with a new syringe and asked her to roll up her sleeve "is there no pill or something I could take?" she asked "I hate needles"

"We ave not yet made this in pill-form, this is the most effective way it can be administrated, it'll be alright" he dapped her arm with a clear saline solution before telling her to take a deep breath, Felicity did so and gasped as the needle jabbed her "There, all done now"

"Thank you" Felicity said weakly and rolled her sleeve back down "When do you want me to come back?" she hoped it would be a long time if she needed to get another needle

"I think it would be best if we make it a weekly visit, same time next week I think should do" the doctor smiled and opened the door for her "inform me if you have any questions or if you are still experiencing the hallucinations immediately"

Felicity nodded her thanks and sighed in relief as Sara stood up and went to greet her "How did it go?"

"I had to get a needle and make another weekly appointment" Felicity shrugged "He didn't really say all that much" she turned to the reception desk and made another appointment for the same time next week "I hope things will get better now" she said excitedly as they made it to the car and drove back to her house. 

* * *

That night Felicity had suck back into her old routine behind her computers tracking the latest bad guy for Oliver and The Team while keeping track of their movements "he is three streets ahead of you and moving fast guys"

They were tracking a man who was responsible for many women disappearing and then suddenly reappearing overseas as sex-slaves, tonight another shipment of women were scheduled to leave and Oliver and Sara along with Roy made their way to the docks to stop the ship from leaving.  
They had succeeded, Detective Lance was called to get help for the women and girls, while Team Arrow raced after the man responsible.

"Almost there guys, just one more street. He's hiding in a warehouse, he has backup and weapons so be careful" she added that last part in a careful voice. Next to her in a bright blue container was her dinner, it was left over veggie patties she had had a few nights ago and she knew it was the last night to eat it.

The veggie patties were cold but Felicity didn't mind, watching the team always made her anxious and as long as she had something to calm her nerves she didn't care if it was hot or cold. She continued to munch while the Team got closer and closer to the warehouse.

The red dots on the screen that represented Oliver, Sara and Roy were nearly on top of the blue dot that was the bad guy, Felicity jumped as shots were fired followed by arrows sent flying through the air and the sound of Sara's staff making contact with bodies. The backup was down, the weapons disarmed now all they needed to do was call Lance again and tell him where they could find him.

Felicity grew panicked as all went silent followed by more gun shots and yelling, the red dot that was Oliver flickered on the screen and then went out completely "Oliver?!" she said into her ear piece "Sara? Is Oliver with you? I can't see him!" she began typing furiously looking for Oliver "Where is he guys?! He was just with you" she snapped still looking, something was wrong; none of them were answering her!

"OLIVER!" she screamed and worked her fingers harder over the keyboard knowing the hurting her computer wasn't going to help matters but she had to take her feelings out on something right now "Sara _answer me_! Where is Oliver?!" she growled in frustration as Sara continued to ignore her "ROY! Answer me please!" still nothing "_WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!_" she screamed as tears started to fall; she had never been this worked up, this worried for Oliver's safety.

The tears fell freely as Felicity tried to calm herself and breathe evenly but she couldn't, she could see the dots that told her that Sara and Roy were on their way back but Oliver was nowhere to be found. Felicity stood up from her computers and walked away, holding herself as she sobbed.  
If the team was on their way back without Oliver…she refused to think that. Oliver couldn't be…so hurt that his dot would disappear and no word from the others…he couldn't be dead? That thought caused Felicity to feel like her heart was in a vice; more sobs ripped through her body.

It seemed like hours had passed until the rest of the team came crashing through the door and found their IT Girl curled up on her computer chair sobbing her heart out, Sara and Roy immediately started checking for any threat but they were alone. Felicity didn't look up as a figure approached her, she looked away as they placed a hand on her shoulder "Please go away"

"Felicity?" a voice softly said "Felicity, look at me" the voice was smooth and made her heart skip a beat, her fragile heart that had just broken into a million pieces.

_Oliver…? _Felicity thought dumbly as she came face to face with Oliver, her knight in green leather, he was there right in front of her! Felicity stood up slowly and placed a hand on his chest, testing to see if he was real and then, suddenly with a great cry of happiness, she flung her body into him and wrapped her arms around his neck saying his name over and over again like a wish.

Oliver held her as she cried, he felt she shake against him and didn't let go until she stopped "I…I couldn't see you Oliver!" she cried "I couldn't see you and Roy and Sara wouldn't talk to me and I thought…I thought you were dead! I was so scared!" Oliver had never seen her like this before and it scared him too.

When Felicity finally calmed down enough to talk Oliver asked her what happened "I…I was watching you on the screen, everything was fine until there were shots fired and you disappeared, Sara and Roy went silent and I couldn't hear them!"

"Felicity, we could hear you screaming, we answered but you only screamed louder" Sara explained softly "we were there the whole time"

"No, no I couldn't hear you at all!" she gripped Oliver's hand so tight her knuckles went white

"Felicity" Oliver stroked her hair and looked into her eyes "I think this was another hallucination" he pointed out "I'm still here and everything that you said didn't happen, we were live the whole time and you just started screaming" he said sadly as Felicity looked down and away from him "it's OK, I'm here now, I'm not going anywhere"

Felicity was more than relieved to hear that he was OK but the shock of thinking he was dead was still raw in her, her tears had stopped but every now and then she shook a little with nerves.

Oliver got up and went to Sara over by Felicity's computer desk "She's still hallucinating, this is the worst one yet look at her!"

Sara picked up Felicity's container of veggie patties and took one in her hand "looks like the doctor didn't do anything" she broke off a piece and slowly brought it up to her lips "maybe we should give her something to help her sleep tonight, a mild sedative?" just as the food nearly went into her mouth Sara caught the smell of it.  
Sara nearly dropped it, she studied the patty in her hand and smelt it again "I know that smell" she sniffed again lightly before throwing it to the floor "BRUGMANSIA!" She cursed and pushed the entire container away roughly "I know what's wrong with Felicity, she was poisoned!"

**A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Now we know ONE of the drugs in Felicity's system! Yes there are two drugs at work for our Felicity! I swear my heart was racing when I was writing this chapter! WOAH I need a break after that roller-coaster ride! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! More to come!**

**Read and REVIEW and tell me what you think and suggestions are welcome!**


	7. Authors Note

**AUTHURS NOTE.**

**Hey guys. I hope you have been enjoying the story as much as I have enjoyed writing it but now I need your help! Yes, YOU have the power over a chapter (or two) of this story! I have some ideas and I like them all but I want you guys to pick your favourites!**

**OLICITY KISS.**

**In this chapter (or scene whichever) Oliver and Felicity will have a REAL KISS! It won't be in Felicity's head this time! I had two ideas for how their real kiss would go. You guys comment on which sounds better and I'll write it up!**

* * *

**A) NOT ALONE**

**Felicity is freaked to find out she has been drugged. Sara tells Felicity that the drug/s was in her food (the container) but suggests that all her food should be checked just in case. Felicity looks up the type of drug (side effects and how long they will last until they are out of her system) before Team Arrow race over to Felicity's house to go through and get rid of all her food (and maybe ingredients like flour and stuff?).**

**With all her food gone Felicity's kitchen looks bare Felicity remarks on getting Big Belly burger for dinner, inviting the whole Team Arrow to join her (she keeps to herself that she doesn't want to be left alone). They all settle down with BBB and watch movies/play games until its late and they all decide to go to their own homes and get some sleep. Sara is still staying with Felicity. Roy, Oliver and John say goodnight to the girls and head out. Felicity catches Oliver outside and thanks him for being there for her. She babbles about how she hasn't opened up about her family before, how her dad is back in Starling City and not knowing what to do and hallucinating that Oliver died.**

**Oliver comforts her and promises that he and the team will find out how she got drugged, Felicity says that she was scared when she thought Oliver died, he hugs her and holds her tight. Oliver says that Felicity is not going to lose him and he means it. In a moment of weakness, they kiss. Oliver – because he is comforting her. Felicity – because she wants to let him know how important he is to her if the worst case scenario happens. It starts off slow and hesitant but then gets slightly more passionate.**

* * *

**B) TRAINING**

**Felicity is scared to find out that her food was drugged and vows to not go home even if Sara is with her to protect her. She knows that her father is back in town and that he is behind all of this – she just doesn't know why. Sara and John offer to get rid of all her food and buy more groceries if that will make her feel better. Felicity shakes her head but Sara and John go to her house to get rid of it anyway – not wanting her to poison herself again.**

**Oliver and Roy suggest going to get Big Belly Burger and Felicity asks them to go ahead, she feels safer in the Arrow Cave than anywhere else right now.**

**When Oliver comes back with the food (Roy eating there with friends and will meet up with them later – Lame excuse I know!) he finds Felicity punching Oliver's training dummy. He watches her and smiles, she isn't wearing workout clothes but her nice top and skirt. She looks out of place.**

**Oliver comments on her technique and Felicity finally notices he's there. Felicity explains that when she comes face to face with an attacker, she wants to be able to hurt them. She is fierce and angry and Oliver takes notes of that. Oliver puts the food down and walks over to her, arranging her feet and posture to put the most power behind the punch. Felicity punches the dummy a few more times before stopping and holding her hands, Oliver notices her knuckles are red, cracked and some are bleeding.**  
**Oliver tells her to stop before she really hurts herself.**

**Felicity remarks that she wants to cause pain to whomever poisoned her, Oliver says that there is nothing wrong with anger but she needs to let it out in a positive way. He draws her over to the mats and takes on a fighting stance and offers to help her with some self-defence. Felicity agrees. Oliver can see that Felicity is close to breaking point and doesn't push her but Felicity keeps pushing him to show her more, the best way to render someone unconscious or how to wind someone so they had trouble breathing.**  
**Oliver doesn't like the way she is talking and orders them to stop training and turns his back on her, reaching for a towel.**

**Felicity lunges at Oliver and strikes him, Oliver turns at the last second and blocks her blow before holding her tight and pinning her to the mat – rage now all over his face. Oliver tells her to never try that again and that only cowards strike when their opponents back is turned. Felicity struggles underneath Oliver yelling for him to let her go but Oliver holds her and says that she isn't acting like herself and points out that fear can change a person – like its changing her. Felicity snaps back saying that she is fine and that she just wants to protect herself and get back at those who are hurting her. Oliver promises that they will find out who is behind this but he hopes that in doing so, he won't lose his Girl. Felicity's heart swells and tears come into her eyes, she breaks down and says that she has never been more scared, she wants to take care of herself and protect those who are close to her.**

**Oliver promises again that they will find them and that she shouldn't worry about protecting him, Felicity points out that she thought he died and that she doesn't ever want to feel that loss again. Felicity, in her broken and vulnerable state, desperately kisses Oliver with all the passion she can muster. Oliver is taken aback by her kiss. After pausing a moment he kisses her back with equal passion putting all the feelings and promises that he made to her behind the kiss. The kiss is passionate and heated.**

**Well guys! Which did you like better?! I know that B is a little longer than A but more went into B and it was more about animalistic-ness and vulnerability than anything.**

**Let me know which scenario you guys like and I'll choose the most liked one!**


	8. We're A Team

**A/N: OKAY PEOPLE! I know that 'B' won and I **_**did **_**have fun writing it, however with the 'feel' of the story and where I could/can see it going – B just didn't work right now. That doesn't mean that I will erase it altogether! I **_**DO **_**PLAN ON Oliver and Felicity to have something like scenario B but just not right now – it just didn't feel right to me at the point so early on in the story.**

**This is scenario 'A' and the story will continue in the direction its heading. I am sorry if I have disappointed ANYONE with what I have done/am doing with this story but at the end of the day; it's my story and I'm happy with it. Read on if you wish.**

**REMEMBER: I am **_**not **_**erasing that beautiful sexy hot steamy kiss but merely taking it out and placing it somewhere else in the story where I see it is more fitted.**

"Poisoned?!" Oliver asked sternly as Sara dropped the patty

"Brugmansia is a plant and flower that causes hallucinations, I have seen it used sometimes by the League of Assassins" Sara saw Felicity turn white "there aren't any Assassins here" she added calmly for Felicity's sake "if there are I would have known"

"Then how did that plant get in her food?" John asked coming closer to Felicity offering his comfort

"It's in a powered form, along with another drug to make it even more potent – might be LSD or something else but either way, these drugs obviously work well together" Sara gestured toward the scared blonde as if confirming that they worked well in her.

Felicity could hardly hear what any of them were saying as they talked amongst themselves and asked questions like how did it get in her food? How long had it been there? Was everything in her house poisoned? Felicity couldn't listen to any of it. She turned her back on them and opened up a new tab on her computer and began typing away, opening a medical journal and scanning through the information.

Her eyes skimmed over articles relating to other stuff famous doctors were working on, it seemed to go on forever until she found the most recent article relating to what she wanted – her mothers' illness. Felicity felt her insides turn cold as over and over she read her Fathers' name. Apparently over the years he had been gone he had made a cure but it had remained untested even though there were several applicants suitable to try out the experimental drug. _Why hasn't he tested it yet? What is he waiting for? _Felicity asked herself her throat feeling dry.

"…Felicity?"

Felicity turned at the mention of her name "Hmm?" she asked

"If these drugs were in this food then they might be in _all_ of your food at your house" Sara explained "John and I think it's a good idea to go through your kitchen and get rid of everything"

"Tonight?" Felicity asked stupidly

"The sooner the better" Diggle nodded "don't worry, if you want we'll buy you all new stuff tomorrow" Diggle promised

Felicity didn't try to argue as the rest of Team Arrow ushered her into the car – Dig, Felicity and Sara in one car and Roy and Oliver in the other – and made their way to her house. 

* * *

Felicity's kitchen looked like a charity drive – canned foods, fruits and vegetables, leftover takeout food, left over normal food and nearly everything else they could all think of was taken out of her cupboards or fridge and freezer and placed into large garbage bags.  
Felicity looked on feeling sad as she told the Team more about her father and her mother's illness

"So far, I only have hallucinations and shivering – that is only two symptoms and I get tested once a year for it"

"Apart from when you went to the doctor with Sara, when was your last check-up?" Roy asked as he grabbed a bag and started dragging it out of the kitchen

"Only a few weeks ago and it came back negative" Felicity shrugged "surly my doctor could have found it earlier?"

"One step at a time – we get rid of the food first and see how we go" Sara pointed out and tossed a Tupperware container in a black garbage bag "is that everything?"

Oliver, Roy, John and Felicity looked around the kitchen, they all felt a sense of accomplishment but Felicity also felt a pang of emptiness "it looks so bare now" she added sadly "and seeing all my food in bags…I'm kinda hungry now"

"Order out?" Roy asked openly to the room

Felicity didn't mind that idea, some Big Belly Burger might make her feel better but there was something else; she didn't want to be alone. In the spur of the moment Felicity asked them to stay, Sara was already staying but the boys agreed also "I have some board games or we could watch some movies?"

"Sounds good" Oliver nodded and went for his phone "I'll order some Big Belly and get it delivered"

Once the food came all of Team Arrow sat in Felicity's welcoming lounge room eating burgers and chips whilst washing it down with various soft drinks. Felicity glanced over at Oliver and suddenly had a flashback to the last time they were here _that wasn't even real! _She scolded herself _it was a fake kiss! _She shook her head and stood up "what does everyone want to watch? TV or a movie?"

"I'm good with anything" Roy shrugged

"Me too" Sara and Oliver both agreed

"Well John" Felicity turned her gaze to Diggle "I guess it's up to you"

"Something funny. With everything that's been going on we could all use a laugh"

"I know the perfect thing" Felicity smiled and reached over to the DVD case next to her TV and picked out her favourite Jim Carry film "prepare to laugh your arses off!" she cried happily

The lights were turned down to create a more cinematic atmosphere, Felicity pressed play and then settled down on her big comfy single chair next to the lounge where Diggle, Sara and Oliver sat while Roy was comfortable on the floor. Felicity enjoyed anything with Jim Carry but right now she enjoyed hearing her teammate's laughter even more – she seldom heard Oliver laugh and never wanted the movie to end so she could never have to stop hearing it. She felt warm inside and found herself sneaking looks over at Oliver; his face a slight smile lit up by the TV screen.

_It was a fake kiss so stop thinking about it! _But Felicity couldn't get it out of her mind. Everything he had said in the hallucination was true: he wanted her safe, that he needed her to trust him and that she was important. Felicity knew all of that already, so what about the kiss? Where had that come from?

She had been scared and vulnerable and Oliver…he made her feel safe. Felicity shifted around in her chair and tried to continue watching the movie; she was in a constant battle with her eyes to not linger on Oliver.

Oliver was going through a battle of his own. Felicity was important to him and the team and now she was only just opening up about what had been going on after she nearly hurt herself. After all they had been through how could she not trust him with such dangerous stuff?

He could see that she was terrified but tried well to hide it. Felicity still smiled and laughed in all the right places in the movie but he could see that she was distracted. Oliver wanted nothing more than to turn off the TV and get her to talk to him – her being drugged and hallucinating and having her estranged father back in down with a different untested drug was a big deal.

Yet she only came to him and told him everything after a very personal hallucination.

They had kissed.

Oliver could see that when she was telling the story she wouldn't look him in the eye, she was embarrassed and Oliver loved the slight shade of pink that bloomed on her cheeks as she spoke.

Oliver vowed that he would catch her father and somehow make him give Felicity the cure he had been working on. He wanted her to feel better again.

It was nearing midnight when the movie finally finished, Roy stretched and stood up announcing that his bed was calling his name, John and Oliver took that as their cue to leave. Felicity turned the lights back on and turned the TV off thanking them all for staying and followed them out.

John pulled on his coat and thanked Felicity for having them "You want me to give you a lift home Roy? Oliver?" he asked the two guys

"Thank you Dig" Oliver smiled

"Yeah, that'd be cool" Roy added, he thanked Felicity and made his way to Johns car with him following, Oliver stayed behind on her doorstep.

Felicity could hear Sara moving around and heard her say goodnight, Felicity couldn't find her voice so she only nodded to her in return. Sara went to Felicity's spare bedroom and turned off the light; leaving Oliver and Felicity alone on her doorstep.

Felicity shifted her weight while looking down "O-Oliver I just wanted to say thank you" she said quietly

"It's OK Felicity, we're always here to help"

"Just…it's just everything that's been going on? Well, thank you for being here" once she was on a roll she couldn't stop "I don't talk a lot about my family – my mum getting sick and my dad going all crazy to find a cure and leaving me to help her. It was fun" sarcasm edged her words "and then these weird hallucinations started happening and I…the one where you…I thought you left me"

Oliver could see little tears in her eyes and stepped forward to comfort her but she kept talking

"That really scared me Oliver. I mean, everything else is scary but that…that hallucination, I'm glad that it wasn't real" she now looked into his eyes and felt her heart tear a little "and now my father is back and I don't know what he wants – is it here to see me? Has he found a cure? Why am I having these hallucinations? Why me? Why now?"

Oliver placed his hands on her shoulders and soothed her "Hey, hey we'll work this out, all of us together – we're here for you"

"But what if you get hurt? Or Sara? Roy and John?" the tears flowed slowly down her cheeks and she tried to keep her voice steady "I can't even think about any of you getting hurt because of me. I won't let you"

"Felicity. We're a team and teams help each other" Oliver then pointed out firmly and reassuringly "_I won't let you do this alone_"

Oliver looked so sure, so determined and his voice rang so true in her ears that she could help but believe him. This hurt, knowing that her friends were getting into something so deep just to help her and make her better again. Felicity was filled with warmth no matter if the tears falling down her cheeks were cold.

Oliver made her feel safe.

"I can't think about you getting hurt for me" her voice came out as a whisper so quiet Oliver had to come closer to hear

"Felicity –"

Oliver didn't know what he was going to say, a sentence had barely formed in his brain but he lost it as soon as Felicity placed her lips on his. Tears stopped falling and her heart felt like it was mending slowly as Felicity kissed him, it was a small light kiss at first – both hardly realising what was happening – but soon Oliver welcomed it and embraced her; his lips capturing hers passionately.

Oliver tried to put everything into the kiss: his promises and everything he was feeling to let her know he was there and Felicity did the same.

All to soon it stopped and Felicity pulled away looking shocked and slightly confused "I…umm…It's late" Felicity stumbled over her words "I should get some sleep and you should too. I'll see you tomorrow"

"Felicity, please wait!" Oliver caught her eyes before she shut the door on him they were apologetic with a hint of something he knew was mirrored in his own. 

* * *

A silver car parked across the street watched them. A pair of eyes watched as the man known as Oliver Queen embraced his daughter as she poured out her fears. He kissed her and she kissed him back. The man pulled out his phone and placed a call "we're moving ahead with the plan, be a good man and arrange it" without waiting for a reply he ended the call and drove away.

**A/N: Well here was scenario 'A' and I hope you liked it. I just felt that it went better with where this story is heading now. I'm sorry if I offended some of you but I WILL put in scenario 'B' later in the story.**

**A/N2: Felicity's father will contact her in the next chapter! EXCITING STUFF TO COME!**


	9. Daddy Dearest

Loyalty chapter 9

**A/N: This chapter had given me a lot to think about. Felicity's father contacting her is a big part of this story and I had so many ideas of how he would do it: Just randomly show up at her house? Have his assistant pick her up/kidnap her from QC? Call her? Text her? Drug her again and kidnap her?**

**THE IDEAS WERE ENDLESS!**

**I came up with this last night (it was three in three morning but I wrote it down on my phone (typing on such a small screen at such an early hour is NOT fun nor do I recommend it!) I hope you guys like it.**

**P.S Have I mentioned his name yet? I thought I did? Oh well, If I haven't you'll find out here**

The video looped on itself. It was always the same footage over and over again but he didn't mind. It showed what he feared would happen. His daughter in the arms of a man that, after some research and facial recognition, he now knew to be Oliver Queen.

_Oliver Queen was kissing his daughter! _He tried to conceal his rage. Oliver Queen was powerful and if he wanted to go ahead with his plan Oliver Queen was a problem. A big one.  
More research was done and after much reading, clicking and following he had come to a conclusion. 

* * *

When Adam Ryde returned to Starling City with his new untested cure in his hand, his only thought was of his lovely daughter and finding her. His wife's illness had snapped something inside him, he had to find a cure and save her and his daughter. After years of planning he had finally done it – he could come home and they could be a family again; once they were both cured of course.

Adam started slow, getting his assistant to follow her and tell him if she was experiencing any symptoms at all of his wife's illness. All of his reports came back negative she was healthy as a young woman of her age could be; albeit lacking a good night's sleep.  
Adam was puzzled and instructed that she be followed 24 hours a day and to report back to him immediately – he was rewarded.

Apparently Felicity enjoyed clubbing and would go to the ever popular club known as Verdant. What puzzled him more so was that even though she would stay out late she never came home intoxicated or even the slightest bit tipsy; she would always be completely sober. She might be the designated driver? He noted that she would sometimes drive a young man in a hoddie home to The Glades or be driven home by a muscular black man. Felicity was always sober.

There was some other reason why she would frequent that club and it wasn't to socialize.

A weeks' worth of research had Adam coming to the conclusion that he was sure no one else had come to. One the news and in the papers there was talk of a masked vigilante known as The Arrow and he would fight crime and stop drug lords and the like.  
Going through the police files and footage of various cameras led him to believe that The Arrow wore an ear piece at all times; someone was giving him information.  
Adam hacked into their frequency and, being careful to cover his tracks, found them and according to his readings they were at the club Verdant.

Verdant was The Arrows hideout and Felicity was helping him. It was the only explanation.

His daughter was a vigilante!

This news didn't shock him; The Arrow was blessed to have help from his daughter, why wouldn't he be? Felicity was smart and a better than good hacker, with her he had managed to take down foes and help the city. The Arrow was lucky to have his daughter, he thought with a smug grin on his face. After another couple of weeks though he started taking an interest in Felicity's day-time job. She was EA to the stupid playboy CEO of Queen Consolidated Oliver Queen.  
While stupid, Oliver Queen was powerful in the glamourous upper glass of Starling and usually got what he wanted, when he didn't the person who defied him would usually get an Arrow in them or a threat now since he had stopped killing people.

Did The Arrow answer to Oliver Queen? No! The Arrow _was _Oliver Queen! It was in the way he walked, the way he carried himself and in his eyes and the way he spoke. 

* * *

How was Adam meant to carry out his plan now? He would have to go about this very carefully. Why did Oliver and the rest of his team have to get involved? Everything was going well until they meddled in his business!

Adam closed down the video file, showing Oliver all over his little girl, with an angry huff and called for his assistant "PRESTON!"

"Yes Mister Ryde?"

"I think we're going to move ahead with the plan. Another batch of the cure is processing, when will it be finished?" Adam asked not looking at Preston but rather taking his glasses off and rubbing the spot between his eyes

"At the end of the week, Sir. Are we going to test it soon? There are many candidates for it who are more than willing to pay –"

"NO!" Adam roared and spun to face Preston, a mad look in his eyes "IT HAS TO BE HER! I have to take care of her first! Those people are making this very difficult! They threw out all of her food so I can't monitor her hallucinations, I can't help her if she isn't having the symptoms!"

Preston nodded dumbly and left his boss to his work. Felicity Smoak was as healthy as could be, when he had filled in as her doctor and read her charts from previous check-ups there was no evidence of her being inflicted with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and yet his boss still wanted to treat her for it.  
Questioning Adam about it was fruitless, he would either end up threatened or beaten until he agreed to do what he was told.

Preston couldn't wait until all of this was over.

Adam Ryde had found her number and put it into his phone in a matter of seconds, he felt excited, almost giddy as he thought about his plans for Felicity. Adam was going to help her, be a good father and together they would cure her and her mother and they would be a family again. It was all falling into place!

It was morning when he decided to call her, he waited until he was sure she would be out of bed and well rested, he pressed the 'call' option on his phone and waited.

_Ring ring…ring ring…ring ring_

"Hello? Felicity Smoak speaking" ahhh she sounded so much like her mother

"Sweetheart, it's been a long time"

He almost laughed when she heard her scream and drop the phone.

**A/N2: I'm sorry to do this to you! I hate cliff hangers too and **_**JUST WHEN IT WAS GETTING GOOD! **_**I felt like I wanted her father (and his assistant) to have their own chapter. I didn't want any of the others there to cloud things. I wanted the focus to be on her father.**

**WHAT A NUT JOB! Yes I made him slightly crazy (exaggeration) and I can't wait for the café scene! OH MY GOD! I'm so excited for that and for you guys to read it!**

**A/N3: Yes I know that he figured out Oliver was The Arrow rather quickly but hey…he's Felicity's dad and he is, under all the craziness, quite brilliant (where do you think Felicity gets it from? Lol)**

**Read and review! xxx**


	10. Taken

Oliver, Diggle and Roy raced to Felicity's house after Sara called them, they came in at the same time and found Felicity sitting on her couch silent and still. Sara said that Felicity was in a bit of a shock and to not startle her

"Felicity?" Oliver sat across from her on the coffee table "what happened?"

Felicity looked like she didn't hear him, he was about to repeat the question when she shook her head and placed her head in her hands

"We're here for you" Diggle said comfortingly and Roy placed a warm hand on her shoulder

"It…it was my dad…my dad" Felicity's voice broke as tears started to fall "after all these years"

"What did he want?"

Felicity explained the brief conversation to them: she had picked up the phone, heard Adam Ryde's voice and nearly dropped the phone. Her father had explained that he was back in Starling, he had missed her and her mother very much and would be in touch soon. He had also expressed interest in meeting face-to-face with Felicity.

Oliver listened with a blank expression but inside he was seething with rage, this man was _not_ coming anywhere near her and was already making plans for someone on the Team to be with her at all times. Felicity would never be alone and her father wouldn't have the chance to see her. He looked over at Dig who seemed to be having the same protective thoughts.

"He wants to meet up" Felicity said shakily "why now?"

"We're not going to give him that chance" Oliver spoke with a soft yet protective tone "Sara, will you stay here with Felicity?"

"Deal" Sara nodded

"Diggle and Roy will take shifts on who goes with you to and from QC and the Lair, I'll obviously be in the office with you all day, we'll be with you so you don't have to see him and he won't have a chance to get to you" Oliver felt satisfied with his plan

"Really? That quick with a plan, huh? You're not going to find out what he wants?" Felicity asked "I mean, _I _don't know why he's here but maybe it's to do with me? Maybe I _am_ sick and he's just trying to help me?"

"You're defending him after he abandoned you and is now scaring the hell out of you?" Roy asked with a puzzled look on his face "If I were you I wouldn't want anything to do with the guy"

"The tests all came back negative, right? You're not sick. So why would her father want to do this to her?" Sara asked looking at Oliver, an idea forming in her head "we could ask him?"

"NO!" Felicity used her loud voice that caused everyone to snap their eyes to her "This isn't what I want! I don't want any of you getting hurt because of me! No, no and NO!"

"Felicity, we're only thinking about you and your best interests. New plan, we need to find out what he wants and we're not letting him get to you. Roy, Oliver and I go in as The Arrow, Canary and Arsenal, question him and give him a warning: he has to be out of the city by midnight, no contact with you whatsoever"

"Looks like I'll stay back and keep you safe then" made a weak attempt at a smile "don't worry, it'll be OK Felicity"

Felicity gave an annoyed huff, got up from the couch and left them all in her lounge room, disappearing into her bedroom and slamming the door. The curtains were open, letting daylight in, Felicity shut them and sank down onto her bed feeling safe as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She loved her friends, loved that they would protect her like this but she didn't want them getting hurt, this was _her _family and it should be for her to deal with.

Felicity could hear the Team discussing the plan in more detail outside and grabbed her phone, she remembered the number her Father used to call her, punched it into the keypad and then paused. Felicity had only defied Oliver once, she hated it but she felt she had needed to prove herself and that was what she was doing now. Felicity took a deep breath and pressed 'call'

_Ring ring…ring ring…'Hello daughter'_

Felicity felt almost too frozen to move, she was scared to be going behind Oliver's back again, she composed herself and spoke as calmly into the phone as she could

"Dad?" 

* * *

Sara exited Felicity's bathroom in her head-to-toe leather Canary outfit, minus her mask, and signalled for Roy to get in there and put his on. Oliver was already in his Arrow outfit and was pacing back and forth obviously tense and impatient.  
In 20 minutes they would be leaving for Adam Ryde's house, Felicity had zeroed in on his location surprisingly quick and without them having to ask, Oliver pretended not to notice Felicity's breath catch in her throat as he thanked her; Felicity only nodded and went back to her room.

Oliver knew this was hard for her and that she was scared but this needed to happen, he had to keep her safe. She was too important and he wasn't prepared to lose her.

Roy came out of the bathroom suited up and Sara asked if they were ready "I'll let Felicity know that we're going" Oliver volunteered and no one else made a move to stop him, for that he was thankful.

"Felicity?" a knock sounded at her bedroom door "I'm coming in" Felicity's bedroom door opened to reveal Felicity sitting cross legged on her bed, tablet in hand and not looking at him "We're about to leave" he said softly

"I have your trackers on and I'll keep tabs on you" Felicity nodded but her voice sounded like she had been crying "do you need help with that?"

Oliver looked down at his hand and saw his mask, he smiled "If you wouldn't mind?"

Felicity obliged, getting up from her bed Oliver noticed that she had changed into her pyjamas: an oversized sleep shirt and flannelette shorts with polka dots on them but with the shirt being so long it gave the appearance that she wasn't wearing any bottoms. Felicity came forward and took his mask from him "Here" she fastened the mask over his face and secured it at the back "my hero" she smiled weakly

"We should be back at 12:30, we're leaving soon though"

"Okay" Felicity nodded "promise that you'll be careful?"

Oliver placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled "I'll be careful and Dig will be here to protect you, if anything goes wrong we'll abort the mission and come right back" he promised looking deep into her eyes and thought back to the last time they were here at her house and felt something inside him start to burn.  
With the Team in the lounge room Oliver didn't know if this was a good idea, with them so close they might hear, Felicity staring back at him with her intense eyes made him go weak at the knees _screw it _was his final thought before crushing his lips to hers.

Felicity welcomed him in and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer deepening the kiss. A small whimper escaped her lips as she felt Oliver's hands travel down her back and then toyed with the hem of her shirt; Felicity stood on her toes and moaned as gloves met bare skin. Oliver could have taken her right then when he found there was no bra beneath, her body only separated him his by a few thin pieces of material.

All too soon, Oliver was the one who broke the kiss saying that he had to go, both were panting and tried to get themselves under control "some unfinished business for motivation" Oliver smiled and found Felicity's cheeks were a telling shade of pink. Oliver was the only one to walk out and meet the team, giving Felicity the excuse that she had gone to sleep, he ordered that they move now and told John they would be back by 12:30 at the latest. 

* * *

An arrow sliced through the air and planted itself in his computer desk, the figured turned around and came face-to-face with The Arrow "I know who you are" his voice was shaky yet determined

"Then you know I mean business" The Arrow and his accomplices held their weapons at the ready too "what is your business with Felicity Smoak!" he roared

"I'm a doctor! I only want to help her get better!" the doctor begged "I'm her father! Please you have to believe me!"

"Felicity Smoak doesn't need you after what you did to her family. I'm only going to warn you once: leave my city now and don't come back!" The Arrow turned and motioned for his Team to leave when the doctor spoke again

"I have been working for years to find a cure for my wife and daughter! Can't I please see her?! Say goodbye or something?" the doctor came forward

"No. Now leave my city, don't make me ask you again!" The Arrow knocked another arrow and pointed it at his heart but the paused and really looked at the man in front of him. He couldn't be more than 35 years old, light hair and no glasses. Adam Ryde Oliver knew to have dark hair, glasses and in his late 40s. This was a trap. The Arrow pierced his leg and watched him fall to the floor "WHERE IS ADAM RYDE!"

"I…I'm his assistant! Please, if I tell you where he is will you let me live?" the assistant begged

"START TALKING!" The one in red demanded

"Where is he!" the woman in black asked, nothing but anger in her eyes. 

* * *

It all happened so fast, Felicity had changed back into normal clothes during the night and joined Dig on the couch; he was watching some crappy TV show about houses. Dig assured her that everything would be fine, Oliver would be back soon and everything would turn back to normal.

Felicity nodded but knew that wasn't the case.

A window smashed open and a figure burst in, Diggle grabbed his gun and told Felicity to hide and warn Oliver as he shot at the attacker.  
A small yellow dart buried itself in his neck and he went down in a matter of seconds leaving Felicity at the mercy of her attacker.

Felicity was outraged and went to Diggle and checked his pulse "He'll live" her attacker laughed

"I told you not to touch him!" Felicity wailed

"Forget about him! Move!" Felicity was dragged away from Diggle kicking and screaming as her kidnapper held her so tight she knew she would have bruises the next day "SHUT UP!" He roared and threw her into the back of the van still crying and screaming for John, for Oliver for anyone to help. She felt sick, what had she done? 

* * *

It had been only ben minutes after Oliver and left the Doctors hide out when he had got a call from Diggle "Oliver! Felicity's been taken!"

"WHAT!" the whole Team raced back to Felicity's and found glass everywhere, Diggle holding a dart and Felicity nowhere to be seen. Oliver had never been more angry "Where is she? Who took her?"

"I don't know! They knocked me out and took her!"

"FIND HER!" Oliver roared to no one in particular and brought his hand down hard on the coffee table nearly breaking it "I won't let Adam Ryde touch her!" Oliver felt his heart splintering in his chest. 

* * *

Felicity didn't know how she had any tears left after the longest most horrible night of her life. The man responsible for taking her made contact with her father and was told to bring her to his second hide out. A run-down medical centre.

Felicity continued to beg and plead as she was dragged from the van and brought face to face with her father, he took her chin in his hand and made her look at him "Now, now daughter it'll be alright" he soothed "I'll make you all better"

"You said my friends wouldn't get hurt!" she spat

"I'm sorry about that but I can assure you he isn't dead, just slowed down a little. We can't have any interruptions while we're working can we?" he told his men to take her to an operating room and leave her there to wait for him.

"Finally, we can begin putting our family back together again!" Adam called out after her ignoring her blood curdling screams.

**A/N: OH MY GOD! THIS CHAPTER! So intense! That kiss scene OH MY GOD! I loved this chapter so much!**

**Will Oliver and the team find her in time before the testing begins? What will happen to Felicity!? OH MY GOD I'M SO EXCITED TO WRITE IT!**

**Read and review and tell me what you think! Xxx**


	11. Testing

Felicity had done everything to get the attention of anyone walking by her room: she had tried simply banging on the door, yelling, insulting anyone who walked by, when she found a camera in her room watching her she poked it and yelled that she wanted to see her father. Felicity searched the room: there were draws full of medical supplies, there was a heart monitor that wasn't on at the moment, a bed equipped with restraints for the hands and feet "guess that's where I'll be sleeping" she reasoned.

All she could remember was screaming and then a man had knocked her out, had she been here for days or hours? With no clock or calendar it was impossible to tell.

Felicity felt a stab of guilt when she thought about her team back home, no doubt they would be worried about her but she was _sure_ that Oliver would be mad that she went behind his back _again_. Felicity preyed that Diggle was Okay, that the rest of the team would find her soon before her Father could try anything on her.

More time went by and finally Felicity heard her door being opened and turned around to face whomever it was; her Father and two other guys. One of them carried a tray of food: a plain looking sandwich along with a glass of water and set it down on the bed.

"Dad" Felicity didn't smile or nod her head

"Daughter, have you calmed down now or are you going to chuck another tantrum? I thought you would have grown out of them by now"

"Where am I?" Felicity snapped "when I called you I asked you to not hurt my friends, you didn't deliver your side of the bargain"

"I apologized for that Felicity, but he was in the way" Adam shrugged and gestured to her food "eat up now, we can't test or experiment on an empty stomach"

Felicity stood firm ignoring her stomach "I'm not hungry"

"Suit yourself" Adam made a gesture and one of the men approached the food, grabbed the sandwich and eyed Felicity. Before she could react, the man held her and tried to force the food into her mouth so hard she felt like choking. Next came the water, the food and water mixed together made an unpleasant mush in her mouth; Felicity had no choice but to swallow as she coughed and spat out what she could.

"Stop acting like a child! I'm trying to help you!" Adam said angrily "if you be a good girl and cooperate this will be much easier for you! I might even let you see your friends so they can see how healthy you'll be soon" an evil glint in his eye scared Felicity but the mention of seeing her friends made her think; she could suck it up just long enough she might be able to get a message to them.

Felicity nodded, her anger swelling inside her, the man picked her up off the floor and pushed her over to the bed "let's begin then" Adam clicked his fingers and they set to work restraining her to the bed while Felicity kicked and screamed again "you'll only make this worse, stop moving!" Adam reached over to a draw and pulled out a syringe and eyed it lovingly

"First testing of the cure, the first step to having my daughter back" 

* * *

Everything around her swam and shifted, Felicity was almost grateful that she was tied to the bed otherwise she knew the floor would wind up being her best friend. She kept taking deep breaths trying to make sense of everything: Adam had left a while ago leaving his assistant with her to monitor her. Felicity could only hear him scribbling down on his notepad, he was out of her line of vision but every now and then he would talk to her and seeing if she would or even could respond.

Felicity screwed up her eyes, the darkness seemed to make it better but only a little "P-P-Please" she whispered "Please"

"What was that?" the assistant came forward and bent over her "what did you say?"

"Oliver!" Felicity's eye flew open and stared longingly at the assistant "Oliver, you came for me!"

"Another hallucination" he decided and stood up straight "I'll tell Mister Ryde" as he turned to leave though, Felicity's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist

"Please Oliver, you can't leave me!" she looked so desperate and sad that he could only oblige, the assistant pulled up a chair next to her bed and sat down

"You're going to be alright, once the doctor realizes that you're not sick he'll have to let you go" Preston smiled convincingly trying not to think about how long she would have to suffer "until then, you have to be strong Okay?"

"I'll be strong, for you Oliver" Felicity smiled back lazily and didn't fight the tears as they fell "I'll be strong for you" 

* * *

"Sir?" Preston found his boss sometime later in an old nurses tearoom "it's about the girl"

"Yes, yes" Adam smiled happily "how did the first test go? I know it's only the first one and we haven't yet figured out the right dosage for her but it must have had some affect? What happened? Anything?"

"She still had a hallucination, Sir. About her friend Oliver" Preston sighed and put his report on the table for Adam to see "Sir, I looked over her file and there was no record in the past of her having this illness, would it be so bad if we let her go and try it out on someone who actually needs our help?"

"Someone who…? I have worked long and hard to protect my family! My wife is sick and now I want to make sure my daughter isn't! She needs me! If I can't monitor her hallucinations how will I know how much cure she needs? Give her more and start again!" Adam yelled "and don't come back until you have some good news!"

"But Sir! Don't you see that you're hurting her not helping her?! Don't you see how stupid this–" WHAM! Preston was on the floor holding his cheek as Adam stood over him leering down

"You will do what you're told and give my daughter the drugs, monitor her and give her the cure in small amounts until we find what works! DO IT NOW!"

Preston didn't wait to speak again, he staggered to his feet and ran out of the tearoom cursing Adam silently and went back to see Felicity who he found had fallen into an exhausted sleep on the bed. Preston unfastened her restraints and covered her with a blanket "Be strong" he said softly before shutting the door, locking it and walking away to write up another report. 

* * *

Days went by and Felicity could feel herself breaking down, she no longer fought when food was brought to her but she ate as slowly as possible. Taking small bites and slowly sipping the water, maybe eating slowly would slow down the drugs? She had no idea but hoped that the next hallucination was an easy one.

The last one was nice, Oliver telling her to be strong, it was thoughts of him, Sara, John and Roy that kept her going but she hoped that they would find her soon.

It was a tap on her shoulder that pulled her out of her thoughts, Felicity spun around and gave a small yelp "O-Oliver?!" she stuttered and went to him but when she was nearly touching him he stopped her with his palm "Oliver? What's wrong?"

Felicity took in his appearance: he was wearing a black pants and a dress shirt, his jacket nowhere to be seen. He looked like he had come home from a hard day, his expression was tired and annoyed, he spoke "Felicity" he swallowed "You went behind my back again?"

"Only to protect you!" Felicity defended herself "I didn't mean for John to get hurt! Oliver I'm so sorry! Are…are you coming for me? Will I see you soon?" tears fell from her eyes as she tried to go to him but he avoided her "Oliver, I'm so scared and tired. Please I need you"

"No you don't. I have never felt more betrayed, Felicity! I tried to take care of you and you betrayed me!" Oliver yelled in her face, the anger in his voice echoing off the walls and finding its way into her heart shattering it with every word "you deserve this! The team and I are _not _coming for you, Sara and Laurel are more than capable to do your part"

"John said that I was…that you all needed me" sobs shook through her body as she held herself tightly "Please Oliver, no! I need you please!"

"You are off the team, I never want to see you again" Oliver came forward and spoke dangerously slow staring deep into her eyes making sure she understood "_you are nothing to me_"

Felicity's heart breaking scream rang through the room so loud and full of pain she was surprised that the windows didn't break. Oliver's words hurt her more than anything, they clawed their way through her body, found her heart and destroyed it. Felicity fell to the ground at Oliver's feet screaming, crying and desperately holding on to herself trying to hold herself together.

Felicity could hear someone entre the room, they ran to her on the ground and held her but nothing could calm her down. They picked her up and carried her to the bed, Felicity didn't try to fight as a powerful sedative was pushed into her arm; the darkness would help, sleep would claim her and she would try her best not to wake and experience this pain again. Felicity felt so lost, so helpless.

"It'll be over soon! It'll be over soon!" Preston cooed to her softly as she slipped into unconsciousness _she won't survive this _he thought and buried his head in his hands.

**A/N: This chapter broke my heart. I know that it was only a hallucination and Felicity will figure that out but…damn my heart right now! In the next chapter there will be more Oliver and the team.**

**A/N2: I also quite like Preston, he means well and knows that Adam is being a stupid idiot! Please Oliver! Find our Felicity and save her!**

**Read and review! Tell me what you think!**


	12. The Call

Oliver's body was pushed to the limit, he barely slept, couldn't think of eating and spent most of his time in the Lair working out and sparring with Roy, Sara and John. Roy was the first to refuse to spar when Oliver was like this, John followed seeing that Oliver was blind with rage and not noticing that he was hurting himself and them. It was Sara, trained brutally by the League of Assassins, who still continued to spar with Oliver.

Sara could keep up with him, his hits and kicks didn't hurt her as much as Roy and Diggle, she could match him and she did so until they both could hardly breathe.

"We will find her Ollie!" Sara signalled for Oliver to stop after an hour of gruelling training "but you doing this to yourself isn't helping anyone! You need to stop _now_!" Sara said in a calm voice laced with a dangerous tone that said 'don't even try to keep going'

"It's been a week! A week and we haven't found anything!" Oliver grabbed a towel and angrily threw it over himself "I'm going to do another patrol, maybe I can find something in the lower part of the Glades, someone there has to know about a rouge doctor"

"I'm going with you" Sara started to suit up ignoring Oliver's annoyed glances "glare all you want but you're not doing this alone, I want to find our girl as much as Roy and Diggle"

"Fine" Oliver didn't argue and began to suit up himself

Roy entered the Lair panting slightly but looking very pleased with himself "I think I may have something!" He went over to Felicity's computers and began typing and searching through a list and maps of old buildings on the fringes of Starling "a couple of old friends of mine are really into old abandoned buildings and they showed me one that might help us" Roy couldn't help but smile

"How does an old building help us?" Oliver said clearly annoyed

Roy ignored him and spoke to Sara instead "they showed me maps and gave me a list of buildings and said that last night when they were going to explore one, they had to split pretty fast because all these lights were on and people were in there! It wasn't fully functioning but a good part of it was"

Sara realized what he was saying "It could be where Felicity is! Her father is a doctor and would most likely want to test her where there is medical equipment! Roy, this is amazing!" Sara affectionately hit Roy in the arm and turned to Oliver "let's get Diggle and check it out!"

Oliver called John and told him to meet him at the Lair, once they were all there the made a plan using Roy's information and finding the old medical centre "looks like it's a while out of the city, three hours in fact"

"Let's get moving then and get Felicity out of there!" Oliver made his way to the stairs with Diggle following and was about to call for Sara and Roy to hurry up when a gasp sounded from the computers

"Ollie! Look at this!" Sara gestured quickly for Oliver who bounded to her side and nearly fell over when he saw what was on the monitor. A black screen with a message to the Arrow. 

* * *

Preston yawned tiredly as he took the steaming precooked meal from the microwave and peeled back the lid, his stomach growled but he ignored it determined to finally give Felicity something else other than a dry sandwich and water. He smiled at the tray laden with steaming hot risotto and a tall glass of lemonade "they might not go together but at least it's something different" he reasoned.

Preston was also pleased with this meal because it wasn't laced with drugs, he knew Adam wouldn't approve but maybe he would think the drugs were working? He wanted her to have a nice meal she wasn't afraid to eat.

Felicity looked like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep and after last night, what she went through he didn't blame her at all "You hungry?" Preston asked setting the tray down and pulling up a chair beside her bed  
Felicity took one look at the tray and rolled over turning her back to him without a word "Come on" he encouraged "You have to eat, I promise it isn't drugged" Preston picked up the fork and took a bite washing it down with some soda "see? Although, how could you see it when you're not looking at me?" he tried to joke but went back to encouraging after Felicity didn't say anything "I thought you could use a hot meal that didn't make you shake and scream"

Felicity tried to ignore him, after last night she wanted to die. The hallucination was so strong, felt so real that even though she knew it wasn't real by now, it still hurt her to think about it. Felicity told him to leave her alone but Preston refused and spoke with a whisper "even if this food isn't drugged, it's still part of my job to make sure you eat every bite of it"

It took more coaxing but finally Felicity rolled back and faced the food feeling her stomach growl, she hesitantly took the fork and started eating. Preston smiled as he watched her not trying to make any more conversation until she finished eating.

"Your hallucination last night? Seemed pretty bad. What happened if you don't mind me asking?" Preston asked gently

"Just a hallucination" Felicity shrugged gulping down the last of her lemonade

"Tell me about it anyway, it'll be good for a report"

Seeing that he wasn't going to give up, Felicity began to describe it "My friend said that he didn't need me anymore" Felicity could feel the burning lump in her throat and felt like it was choking her making talking nearly impossible

"Lucky it was a hallucination then. When I found you on the floor like that it…it was the most painful thing I've ever seen and I'm sorry you went through that" Preston sighed regretfully "Felicity, I've been trying to –"

They both jumped when the door banged open "And how is my daughter going? Any breakthroughs?" Adam looked from Preston to Felicity

"No hallucinations this morning, Sir" Preston stood up and smiled at him "It all seems to be going smoothly, in fact I was wondering if we could set up the webcam with her friends. I'm sure they would want to see…how much good you're doing for Felicity" an idea formed, he hoped his smile was taken as one of pride in their work "it's only fair after all" 

* * *

_Incoming video call to The Arrow…do you accept?_

Oliver nodded to Sara who clicked 'YES' and turned her face away to conceal herself. The way Oliver's eyes widened ever so slightly and his sharp intake of breathe told her who it was straight away. There seated in a chair, dressed in a hospital gown, looking completely exhausted and broken yet somehow still with a small smile on her face – Felicity.

Oliver felt his heart flutter for the first time in a week as he looked at Felicity and noted all of her injuries, most of which weren't physical but there was bruising on her wrists and dark circles under her eyes. Oliver couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on in her mind but he could see only one emotion in her eyes: fear.

"Hello Arrow!" Adam Ryde came into view next to Felicity and placed a hand on her shoulder, Oliver wanted nothing more than to put an arrow through him but kept his voice calm

"Ryde" he said curtly and ignored him briefly "Felicity, are you hurt?" it nearly killed him to see her like this and the fact that she was trying to put on a brave face and shake her head 'no' only made him feel worse "Ryde I swear, if you hurt her anymore I'll kill you myself!"

"I thought you didn't kill people anymore, Arrow?"

"I can make an exception!" Oliver growled

"You won't have to kill me because I am making a difference and curing my daughter. You'll have her back in no time" Adam smiled, his face lit up like a kid in a candy store

"Oliver?" Felicity's voice was small and weak

"Felicity I'll come for you, I promise!" Oliver held on to the monitor almost breaking it in his grip

"Oliver!" Felicity was pulled from the set and dragged away by Adam's assistant, hearing her scream for him made Oliver's blood boil and the connection was broken. Nothing but a black screen now.  
Oliver paced up and down "We leave now!" he grabbed his quiver but noticed a beeping sound coming from the computer and looked back to find a bunch of numbers and a message that read _help her. _It was coordinates to the same address Roy had.

"We get her tonight!" Oliver didn't need to tell the rest of them twice, they followed Roy's map and rode off to find their IT Girl.

**A/N: Yes I know that this ended rather dully but I couldn't think of a better way to end it but PRESTON HELPED TEAM ARROW! (He didn't know about Roy's friends and is separate from them if you want to know, I just wanted Preston to help our girl!)**

**A/N2: Now that were caught up to the first chapter (the non-linier one) the next chapter will be the first chapter but from Oliver's POV is that Okay with everyone?**

**Let me know what you think! Read and Review and suggestions for future chapters are more than welcome! I will credit you if you write an idea and I decide to write it up.**


	13. Safe For Now

The Team didn't stop at all on the three hour drive, for Oliver it was thoughts of Felicity that kept him going. When he saw her she looked broken and the bruises on her wrists made him more than angry, Oliver didn't even look back to check if the others were keeping up with him; Sara on her bike and Roy with Diggle in the car.

_I'm coming Felicity! Just hold on a little longer! _He vowed as he revved his bike and went even faster.

They found the medical centre and pulled up their vehicles far enough away so they wouldn't be seen and went closer on foot. There weren't many guards but there didn't need to be because there were so many lights on. Oliver crept closer, avoiding the guards and approached a window and peered in; there was nothing inside. They didn't have time for this!  
Oliver went back to Sara, Diggle and Roy and told them to stay there, wait for him and if they felt something went wrong to come in after him. They agreed and stayed where they were while Oliver took out the guards and went inside.

It was like any other medical centre, same smell and feel but Oliver knew better, somewhere Felicity was at the mercy of her crazy father getting drugged. He gripped his bow tighter as he turned a corner and heard Felicity, her voice was muffled but still he knew it was her "Please, no more testing! I can't take it anymore!"  
_I'm here Felicity! _Oliver pulled an arrow from his quiver and notched it, advancing to the door and kicked it down letting his arrow fly to the nearest man.

Adam Ryde and his assistant spun round as The Arrow approached them, Adam pulled the curtain across to hide Felicity and opened his arms in a friendly gesture "Arrow! How nice to see you!"

"Where is Felicity!?"

"You'll see her soon, in 30 minutes she'll be cured and as perfect as she always should have been" Adam said confidently

"You prick" The Arrow let another arrow fly through the air and hit on of the doctors hands, intentionally missing his body, Oliver didn't want him dead yet "_she was already perfect!_" he roared and sprang forward, smacking his fist into Adam's face and sending him to the ground. The assistant took one look behind the curtain, then at the Arrow and ran out of the room.

"O-O-Oliver?" Felicity's voice was weak yet it hit Oliver like a freight train, Oliver pulled back the curtain to see Felicity strapped down to the bed, a drip connected to one arm and another bag of purple liquid connected to the other; 'the cure' Oliver knew.  
Felicity could have laughed, she was so happy to see her knight in green leather "Oliver, you came for me!"

"I'm going to get you out of here" Oliver broke the straps and lifted Felicity gently into his arms, Felicity cradled into him and sighed his name like a prayer.

"I found her" Oliver said into his ear piece "we're coming out now" Oliver held Felicity tight as he made his way to the door. Oliver gasped in surprise as hands grabbed him and pulled him down; Oliver reluctantly dropped Felicity who rolled away calling his name.  
Oliver started to fight back, punching and kicking as his attackers and trying to locate Felicity at the same time.

Adam held his injured hand, ordering one of his men to hold Felicity who screamed for Oliver to be let go "restrain her again and kill him!" he spat in a manic voice as The Arrow was finally held down

"NO!" Felicity yanked herself free "TAKE ME! Take me and let him go!"

Adam and Oliver both turned to look at Felicity "What?" Adam asked "You mean it?"

"No Felicity!" Oliver's cry was met with another punch to the face

"You heard me! Let him go and I will go with you! You can test on me for as long as you want just please let him go! If you let him go he won't come after you!" her voice shrieked as one man landed a punch to Oliver's stomach "I promise I'll be yours" she shrieked trying to get to her friend

Adam couldn't stand his daughter screams anymore, they annoyed him and he had work to do, with the Arrow out of the way he might actually get it done "Alright!" he gave in "I let him go and you're mine!"

"YES! Yes, I'm yours" Felicity ran to Oliver as Adam's men let him go, she clung to him but then looked back at her father "can I say goodbye before we go?"

"You have one minute" Adam gestured for his men to leave them and followed them out.

Felicity looked into Oliver's eyes hoping to see gratitude but desperation and anger were the only things looking back at her "Felicity" Oliver grabbed her and held her tight "what do you think you're doing!"

Felicity broke out of his grip "Saving you" she said pointedly

"You can't stay here with him!"

"I can't let you get hurt for me, Oliver" Felicity kept her eyes on his as Oliver stood up, towering over her but not to intimidate her

"And I _won't _have you stay here and be treated like a lab rat by a mad man! You're coming with me now" Oliver took her forearm and half dragged Felicity to the door "be careful, glass" he pointed to the floor making sure that Felicity didn't step in any since she wasn't wearing shoes

"No Oliver! You're always protecting me; it's my turn to protect you" Felicity pulled away

"_Fel-li-ci-ty_!" Oliver turned to her and stared into her eyes holding her at arm's length yet still with a firm grip "_I cannot lose you to Adam_" the sound of footsteps coming closer told him that they would have company in a matter of seconds. Just when the door swung open Felicity flung her arms around his neck and kissed him with all that she had.  
Oliver kissed her back, crushing her to his body and matching her passion for passion.

Adam's men had come back and pulled them apart as Adam came back into the room, a rough bandage around his hand, he grabbed Felicity with his one good hand and started pulling her to the door; giving orders for Oliver to be killed.  
Felicity began to fight back and tried everything from kicking to scratching and even biting her father to get to Oliver.

A bullet raced through the air, the bang drowning out Felicity's screams as it planted itself in Oliver's chest "NO! OLIVER!" Felicity slapped Adam hard across the face "you said you would let him go!"

"Things change sweetheart, now come on" he pulled her through the doorway and ignored her feeble attempts to get away "don't fight, you'll only hurt yourself"

Felicity heard a bird's cry, a grunt and several bullets from behind them: the rest of Team Arrow had come to save her too! Felicity tried one last time to get away, she raked her nails into Adam's arm and smiled when she hollered in pain, Adam pushed her hard against the wall and gripped her neck "I told you sweetie! I told you that you'd hurt yourself" he pulled out a syringe

"NO! NO! HELP! OLIVER! SARA I'M HERE!"

Adam pushed the syringe deep into her arm and watched as her eyes became unfocused and her grip on him lessened until she finally let go and crumpled to the ground at his feet. Adam bent down to pick her up, unceremoniously hoisting her up into his arms and running off with her.

Just when Adam got to his car, Sara caught up with him and belted him with her staff, Adam dropped Felicity and tried to punch her feeling happy when he landed one. Sara gave him one good swift kick and sent him flying over the car where she heard a satisfying thud and then nothing. Sara gathered Felicity in her arms on the ground "OLIVER, DIG, ROY I HAVE HER! WE'RE HERE!" She called to her team mates.

Oliver was the first to reach them along with Roy and Dig who stayed back a ways in caser more men showed up, Oliver tilted Felicity's face "I feel a pulse but she's unconscious, we have to get her out of here" he looked around "Where's Adam Ryde?"

"I knocked him out" Sara helped Oliver carry Felicity away "I don't think he'll be bothering us"

Roy made a sound and pointed to the car, Adam and woken up and was now madly driving away, Oliver cursed himself and asked why he hadn't taken a look himself _because you were worried about Felicity _a voice in mind answered smartly "we get her safe first and worry about him later"

"But Oliver –" Dig started to say

"_LATER!_" Oliver roared so loud and with so much pain in his voice that none of the team questioned him any further, they all made their way back to their bikes and car. Oliver wouldn't let Felicity go or take any help offered to carry her until they reached the car some distance away. Roy wordlessly opened the car door for Oliver, he slid into the car with Felicity settled in his lap

"Roy" he said tonelessly

"Yeah?" Roy answered quickly

"You can ride my bike back to Starling"

"Yeah. Sure Oliver" Roy watched as Oliver shut the door and left Sara and Roy outside, Digg was already making his way to the driver side.

Together, Sara and Roy got on the bikes and followed Digg in the car.

Dig watched in the rear-view mirror that Oliver never stopped gently stroking Felicity's hair or cheek, his eyes scanning her body for any physical wounds and his arms wrapping protectively around her. Over and over again all Digg heard was Oliver's promise to Felicity "I'm here Felicity. You're safe. I'm not going to let him hurt you again. I'm here. I'm here" as he gently rocked her.

Team Arrow was whole again for now and that was all that mattered.

**A/N: This chapter was supposed to be the first but from Oliver's POV. There are some differences but not much, I didn't want it to be exactly the same. I'm happy with the outcome. TEAM ARROW IS WHOLE AGAIN! …but for how long?**


	14. Together Again

Loyalty chapter 14

**A/N: This is not how I wanted this chapter to go but I like how it turned out. Olicity at the end and in the next chapter! Enjoy!**

Oliver was sprawled out on the med bay table in the lair, blood from his wound not pouring out as much as before.

With Felicity on his lap he did his best to ignore the pain but it soon became too much and he had ordered Digg to stop the car. Felicity's flimsy hospital gown was soaked with his blood, Roy took her from him while Diggle and Sara helped Oliver: he refused to go to hospital, not that that surprised any of them, but ordered them to do a needle-chest decompression to help him breathe. Sara and John went to work while Roy looked after Felicity.  
Once Oliver was taken care of and Felicity returned to him, they set off again for the Lair. _Not long now Felicity, please hold on_.

"You should be better soon, stop moving Ollie I have to stitch you up!" Sara urged Oliver to lay still while she worked but he kept trying to look at Felicity and bark orders

"Oliver, Felicity is just sleeping now. Once she wakes up we can check on her" John reasoned with Roy standing next to him

"She looks like she hasn't eaten properly in a week! And those drugs they kept giving her" Roy shuddered "will she be Okay when she wakes up?"

"We'll have to wait and see" Sara finished stitching Oliver and put the used medical supplies in the bin "she's strong, she'll pull through" 

* * *

Voices. Felicity remembered voices.

_I let him go and you're mine!_

_I _won't_ have you stay here and be treated like a lab rat by a mad man!_

_Restrain her again and kill him!_

_OLIVER! NO!_

One voice was trying to harm her, one was trying to save her and one was her own so full of pain it tore at her heart. Felicity tried to remember the last thing that happened: she sacrificed herself so that Oliver could live but he was shot. A tear fell from her eye and made its way down her temple, it didn't matter that she was alive, Oliver was dead and she wished that she was too. Adam would test on her for the rest of her days; she would never see John, Roy or Sara again. Felicity was a lab rat forever now.

Felicity began to pay attention and listened to her surroundings, still not opening her eyes. She heard beeping of a monitor, could feel tubes connected to her body and smell…she could smell that unmistakable damp smell and the smell of metal? This new facility her father had brought her to reminded her of the Lair back home. The thought of home sent a urge of power through her, Sara had always said that she was strong and brave. Even if Oliver was gone her other friends needed her and now was the time for action!

Felicity opened her eyes, without her glasses all she could see were fuzzy shapes, tilting her head to the left Felicity saw a large figure of a man _one of father's men getting ready to test on me _she thought angrily. The man didn't notice Felicity as she sat up on the hard metal table and unattached herself from all the tubes.  
Felicity stood on her feet, quickly grabbing the table to keep from falling, the noise caused the man in front of her to turn around "You're awake!" he said sounding pleased

Felicity balled up her fists and took a swing while lunging herself at him. _THWACK! _Felicity's fist found its target and the man stumbled but threw out his hand the grab her. Felicity squealed and tried to pull her hand free all the while the man tried to calm her down

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Felicity bit down on his hand, the man let her go and called for help. Felicity took her chance and, with her eyesight being as bad as it was, found what looked like a door in the distance. Felicity ran for it and just as she reached it, strong hands grabbed her and spun her around

"Felicity! Look at me!" a female voice soothed "it's OK you're home!"

"NO! NO! I'll never go home!" Felicity shrieked and struggled out of the woman's grasp

"Stop her before she hurts herself!"

More hands and arms came out of nowhere and held her still, Felicity struggled again and again and felt herself getting tired but she continued to scream "LEAVE ME ALONE! GET OFF OF ME!"

"Felicity, it's me! It's Okay now! You're safe!" a familiar voice – _his voice – _came from behind her and Felicity became aware that she was pressed against a hard body "Felicity it's alright now" he continued to soothe her

"No" Felicity shook her head sadly as tears spilled from her eyes "no it's not true! You're dead!" Felicity struggled harder and harder, her fear and adrenalin giving her the strength she didn't know she had, Felicity fought her way out of the man's grasp and ran for the door again. All Felicity could see was shapes but she pushed herself to go on, she ran and stumbled up the stairs and out into the sunlight. Felicity shielded her eyes from the harsh light and ran for the nearest car. A red mini-cooper.

This mini-cooper looked strangely like her own car; it even had the same cute butterfly pendent hanging from the mirror inside! Felicity tried opening the door but it wouldn't open "any minute now they'll come after me" Felicity said out loud in a frantic voice and tried to find something, anything to break the window.  
Felicity found a large rock and, promising herself that she would pay whomever this car belonged to for the damage, smashed the window open and crawled inside; ignoring the broken glass cutting her hands and arms as she crawled through.

Felicity noticed the keys still in the ignition and turned on the engine. Her captors were outside now and looking for her, Felicity put the car into reverse and put her foot to the floor. Let them try to catch her now! Felicity could see the fuzzy shapes of her captors in the rear-view mirror frantically pointing in her direction and worrying.  
Felicity didn't think about them as she drove off into a random direction. She had to find her way home. She had to find her team before it was too late and Adam's men caught her again.

"Is she crazy?!" Roy asked as they watched Felicity drive away "how is she able to drive?"

"Felicity thinks that this is all in her mind, a hallucination. We have to get her back before she hurts herself" Oliver and Sara picked up their bikes "we need to find her. Sara and I will try to find her on our bikes, Dig you search for her in your car and Roy I want you here tracking her if you can"

Team Arrow set to work with their tasks and set out to find Felicity. Oliver went north, Sara went east and Diggle went south, with Roy tracking her they would find her soon Oliver hoped.

Felicity drove for what felt like hours, she was panicked and near hysteria by the time she simply stopped the car at a park and turned off the engine. The sun was going down now and the swings were free, Felicity got out of her car and sat on the swings, letting the breeze rock her back and forth.

Felicity wondered why she wasn't cold and looked down at herself for the first time – she didn't even remember changing into normal clothes but she was thankful that she did change.  
Felicity tried to calm down and think, this park was familiar to her, maybe she had driven all the way back to Starling City? But from where?  
With no phone on her or money she couldn't even call for help from the rest of her team. She was lost and alone and felt so scared and confused. 

* * *

"It's OK Roy, I found her" Oliver pulled his bike up next to her car and took off his helmet "she's in a park, I'll bring her home"

"Be careful, Ollie" Sara responded caringly "we'll meet you both back at the foundry"

Oliver slowly walked over to blonde girl on the swings, she looked far away and her face was pale and her eyes were glazed over like she was in a trance.  
He took up the extra swing next to her "Felicity" he spoke softly so as not to scare her again "it's me, Oliver"

Felicity seemed to come out of her trance and slowly brought her eyes up to meet his but she looked like she still didn't fully believe what she was seeing "Oliver? You died. My father shot you"

"No, Felicity" Oliver got off his swing and crouched down in front of her "no, I'm right here. You think you're hallucinating" he took her hand between his warm ones and rubbed them together "I'm right here Felicity"

"You're…you're alive?" Felicity felt her heart start to warm up for the first time in days "but you said you didn't want me? That Sara would replace me" hot tears fell from her eyes _is that really you Oliver? _She thought

"Felicity, you're my girl. My Girl Wednesday! I will always want you" Oliver cupped her cheek and smiled when she nuzzled into his touch "I'm real. I'm right here, you're not hallucinating, see?"

"Oliver?" Felicity stood up from the swing and studied him in front of her, every hair, every muscle was right there. Her fingers gingerly touched his chest and her lips formed a smile when she found that Oliver was in fact solid; that he wouldn't fade away. Felicity's eyes travelled up his body only to meet his blue-grey eyes with a smile "It's you" Felicity's smile grew even bigger as she flung her arms around his neck "Oliver! It's you!"

Oliver held her as tightly as he could as she cried all over him, he didn't care that his jacket was getting wet with her tears. Oliver had his Girl Wednesday back and, for now, that is all that mattered.

"We're heading home" Oliver said with a smile into his ear piece.


	15. A Friend

Preston watched Felicity and Oliver embrace warmly by the swings. They looked so happy to be back together. Preston couldn't blame Oliver, for in his few days of knowing the blonde IT Girl he had become attached to her too. Preston had wanted to protect her and now that he was away from Adam Ryde, he could offer information to her or the police to help them catch him. Preston smiled at his idea and watched as they drove away.

Knowing that Oliver Queen was The Arrow stopped Preston from simply getting out of his car and approaching them. If he did try and talk he was sure that Oliver would kill him without a second thought "I don't exactly blame him" he sighed to himself. How would he get to Felicity? Would she even want to see him after what he reluctantly put her through? Preston shook his head at his stupid wishful thinking; of course she won't want to see him!  
However, Preston knew that his information was important and if Felicity wanted to help The Arrow take her father down then she needed to hear what he had to say!

Preston shifted his car into gear and drove off not having to think about where he was going before he ended up at Felicity's house, turning the engine off and settling in for a long wait for Felicity to return.

* * *

When Oliver brought Felicity back to the Foundry at first, everyone was talking softly and calmly but when Felicity happily flung her arms around Diggle everyone was all smiles and happy to see their IT Girl again. Felicity hugged them all in turn and had felt more alive than she had in days but that smile faded when she saw Sara reaching for a needle "What're you doing?"

"I just need to take a blood sample, to be sure that what was in your system is gone" Sara explained and watched as Felicity jumped up as if she had been stung

"Why? Can't you see that I'm fine now?" Felicity flinched as Oliver placed a comforting hand on her arm but she couldn't take her eyes off the needle

"Felicity, it's Okay, you're safe now. Try to think of something else" Roy offered kindly

"Sorry" Felicity shuddered before allowing Sara to take the sample "It just…surprised me"

Sara smiled at the IT Girl and filled her in on what happened to the Team, how they tried to find her and how Roy's friend had accidentally found where she was being kept. Diggle spoke up and told Felicity about the message and seeing Felicity on the screen with her father "Not one of the greatest Skype moments" he tried to smile

"I'm sorry I said your name Oliver" Felicity stared sadly at him "I wasn't thinking I…I just wanted" Oliver came forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder

"You were scared, it's okay. I'm pretty sure Adam knew who I was anyway"

"What happens now?" Felicity asked "if my father is still out there shouldn't we find him? And if he knows who you are isn't that kind of a problem?"

"You come first and then we take care of your father" Oliver's voice was soft yet had an air of authority that said that his word was final

"The blood test should be ready in a few hours, we'll be able to see if the drugs are out of your system and if it's not we can work out what it is" Sara said confidently "we know one of the drugs already so that's handy"

Felicity nodded her thanks but all she wanted to do right now was go home and sleep, she would deal with all of this tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Oliver saw how exhausted she was and opted to drive her home. Diggle wanted to get home to Lyla and offered to give Roy a lift. With everyone sorted Oliver took Felicity by the arm gently and escorted her to his car.

* * *

Felicity could hardly keep her eyes open on the ride home. With everything that happened to her in the past week she wasn't surprised at all. Oliver kept glancing at her and told her that it was alright to sleep but Felicity refused – using the stupid excuse that she didn't want to be rude in the car by sleeping and leaving him alone.

Yet when they pulled up to her house Felicity felt wide awake. She became alert and tense and fearful of walking up her front steps and tried her best to hide it; were the drugs still in her system? Felicity felt Oliver hold her arm as they walked to her door and opened the front door with her key.  
Oliver helped her inside but only when he was sure that it was safe and sat her down on the couch

"Felicity?" Oliver asked gently "Talk to me"

"I-I-I don't want…"

"I'm not letting you become me, you're not going to go through this alone. Please, talk to me" Oliver took her hands in his and stared intently into her eyes

Felicity knew that there was no escape from him, not that she wanted to escape, and who else had been through bad stuff that they refused to talk about? There was Sara, Diggle and Roy but Oliver was here with her now. Felicity figured that she would have opened up to any one of them if they had been there; but Oliver was here now.

Felicity searched her mind for when all of this started. It started with her _going behind Oliver's back again _and betraying him. Then she was drugged and had to endure horrible hallucinations, Felicity closed her eyes sharply as everything came flooding back, she was dimly aware that Oliver had placed his hand on her cheek and was talking calmly to her

"It's alright now Felicity" Oliver spoke softly as Felicity shut her eyes and began to shake slightly "You don't have to talk about it"

"Oliver…" Felicity opened her eyes and nearly cried when she was met with his own "Oliver it was my fault. My fault-" and before Oliver knew it she was talking a mile a minute and barely leaving space to breathe "IwentbehindyourbackagainandI'msosorryIwassoscared!IhadtoprotectyouguysIdidn'twantyoutogethurt!"

"Felicity, slow down. Talk slower" Oliver emphasised taking a deep calming breath and gestured for her to do the same before continuing

"It was my fault, I went behind your back and I'm sorry" Felicity didn't fight the tears that clouded her sight "I wanted to keep you safe, I contacted my father and told him to take me and spare all of you"

Oliver listened quietly, his hands never leaving hers, if anything her story made him want to hold her tighter.

"They started the tests right away. My father and his assistant would drug me and then try to cure, since I'm not sick the cure wouldn't work and they just upped the dose of drugs and the hallucinations kept coming and coming" Oliver saw that Felicity was in pain and it hurt him to hear that all of this was done to her but when she was on a roll it was hard for her to stop "The first one was you simply coming to save me. I wanted to see you so badly"

Felicity listed all of her hallucinations "In one of them I had spiders all over me, the next one was snakes and another was that I simply couldn't move. Then I started having hallucinations of people; mainly you guys. I saw Dig with Lyla at their wedding; I danced with Roy and Barry at their reception. In another Sara was simply mad at me and wouldn't talk to me and…the worst one was when-"

Oliver stroked her hand with his fingers, silently telling her that he was there for her and would help her in any way he could.

Felicity continued: "the worst one was when…you were right there in front of me, I wanted to run to you but you stopped me. You said that you didn't need me anymore, Sara and Laurel would replace me and that–" Felicity hated that she couldn't hide the hitch in her breath "that I meant nothing to you" she shook her head and began to cry "it hurt so much to lose you"

Oliver quickly brought her into his arms and soothed her with his words "It wasn't me, Felicity. It wasn't me, I would _never _say that and _no one could ever replace you_. Do you understand?" Oliver made Felicity look into his eyes "Felicity I–" a pounding knock at the door interrupted them, making Oliver tense up and instinctively stand up and in front of Felicity "are you expecting anyone?" he asked

"No" Felicity said simply and shook her head

"Hide" Oliver approached the door quietly and reached for the door handle, Felicity got up and went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, if it came to it Felicity would defend herself and Oliver.  
There was a hesitant hello from the living room then sounds of a struggle "I'm here to see–"

"Who are you and what do you want with Felicity?!" Oliver growled, Felicity came back in and saw Oliver had pinned a man to the ground "tell me now!"

"Please! I'm here to see Felicity! We met before!" the man pleaded

"Oliver stop! Let him go! I know him" Felicity sprang forward and pulled Oliver off of him "Preston" she sighed in relief "are you alright?"

Preston groaned as he stood up again and eyed Oliver "Yeah, I'm just glad that you're the same and have The Arrow here to protect you, you need it"

"You know who I am?" Oliver asked not liking this man at all or how he looked at Felicity

"I'm Adam Ryde's assistant, my name is Preston and I was…helping look after Felicity"

"Out of all my father's men, Preston was the only one to show me any kind of kindness, he helped me through my hallucinations. I'm happy you made it out but why are you here?" Felicity assured Oliver before looking back to Preston and waiting for an explanation "where is my father?"

"Something's snapped inside him Felicity. When we first met I didn't see it, but we did more and more research together, we worked together and I refused to see it because I trusted him and he seduced me into helping him make sick people better. Adam nearly lost it when I went to him and told him that the cure didn't work with you, he was or rather still is 100% sure that you have the same illness as your mother"

"But, I don't! I'm not sick I–"

"Adam can't see that. I tried to tell him, I tried to make him see that what he was doing to you was in no way right with anything we had worked towards. I tried to bring in other people who _were _sick but he refused. It had to start with you" Preston ran a hand through his hair as he continued "when your friends came to rescue you, Adam finally snapped" Preston looked at Oliver "he wants you, The Arrow, dead for interfering with Felicity, if he can't have Felicity to test on he'll go after another he knows he can cure" Preston said sadly

"He wants my mother…" Felicity could feel fresh tears at her realisation "Adam is going after my mother!" Oliver placed a firm and comforting hand on her shoulder "he can't get to me so he's going after her! I won't let him! I'll find him and he can have me!"

"I'm so sorry Felicity, I tried to stop him but –" Preston tried to speak but was rudely cut off by Oliver who came around so that she could look at him and wrapped his arms around her

"Your mother is going to be fine, we won't let him get to her or you, we'll stop him" Oliver vowed

"How?" Felicity sobbed

Oliver vowed to take out Adam Ryde and destroy him for hurting Felicity. He was already forming a plan and was unaware of the look between Preston and Felicity and the slight nod from her over his shoulder – they had a plan too.

**A/N: This chapter took some time to write out but I got there in the end. Updates may be later and later due to personal problems at home and trying to help another friend in her personal stuff too. Life just gets in the way sometimes and I'm sorry.**

**A/N2: I loved the tension between Preston and Oliver in this chapter! Preston has feelings for Felicity but Oliver is all 'grrr!' and talks of her mother!? Hmm let's see how it goes!**

Read and review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  



	16. The Plan

Adam sipped his coffee and eyed his newspaper as he sat in his car outside a park. Whenever he was upset or angry, parks seemed to calm him and make him think clearly. The pleasant laughing of children made him think of his daughter – how he missed her and he was _so close _to helping her; before The Arrow got in the way.  
Adam would have to take care of The Arrow eventually but family always came first. Sipping his coffee again and patting the black briefcase on the passenger seat next to him, Adam thought just how he would come into contact with his wife.

If his daughter was being stubborn then maybe his wife would be more willing to help herself and not cry that nothing was wrong with her when there clearly was! Adam was angry with Felicity for being like this, once he had dealt with his wife he would come back for her, show her that what he was doing was right for them and they could be a family again!

Adam took out his phone and dialled the number for his assistant Preston, he needed help and his most trusted friend would always come through for him. 

* * *

Felicity rubbed her eyes tiredly, sleep hadn't come to her last night but she managed to go in and out of a doze. It wasn't enough and she felt horrible. Adam Ryde, her own father, was going after her mother and going to try to drug her with the same stuff he drugged his daughter with. Felicity felt a shiver surge through her at the thought of what she had been through, she rubbed her wrists where the restraints had been; she could still feel them.

Felicity got out of bed and went to the kitchen finding Sara and Oliver there drinking coffee. Sara greeted her softly and offered her a cup, Felicity took it wordlessly and drank, hoping that the coffee would revive her somewhat.

"Did you sleep?" Oliver asked Felicity

"How can I sleep now when my mother is in danger?" Felicity shot back a little more aggressively than she meant

"We'll protect her. No one is going to touch your mother Felicity" Sara promised

Felicity nodded her thanks and visibly flinched when a knock at the front door rang loudly through to the kitchen, Felicity made to go get it but Oliver held her arm and went to get it himself. Words were exchanged and Oliver came back to them with Preston in tow looking nervous and unsettled.  
Felicity greeted him with a smile and a friendly hello, Preston returned her smile with his own but quickly looked down at his shoes after catching Oliver giving him a 'seriously?' look

"What're you doing here?" Oliver asked feeling uncomfortable at how easily Felicity accepted him _maybe it's Stockholm syndrome? _He thought offhandedly

"I just came back to see if you guys had any luck finding Adam Ryde yet or figured out what he's going to do" Preston shrugged "He is somewhere in Starling and he hasn't used any bank cards or used his ID Card in any of the hospitals or free clinics, so we know he hasn't found a new victim. Adam still wants Felicity or he'll go after her mother" Preston gave Felicity a sorry look and thought about putting a comforting hand on her shoulder but one look at Oliver told him that wasn't a good idea. Felicity turned on her heel and went to her laptop and immediately started a search for her father.

"As long as he's still in my city, Felicity isn't safe. We stick to the original plan and someone stays with her at all times until we have this sorted" Oliver put forward confidently "do you know where he was last seen?" he asked Preston

"Jackson Hotel" Preston answered straight away "but he might be gone now, I'm not sure"

"I'll put Roy on to it and have him monitor that Hotel" Sara pulled out her phone and called Roy, then called Diggle and asked him to come meet them at Felicity's

Felicity's voice called them all to her living room where she sat with her laptop being away with alerts on other criminals, they weren't her concern this time. Felicity had tracked her father's bank accounts and a sum of money was taken out to buy a plane ticket "he's getting on a plane and headed to my home town. The plane leaves in an hour" Felicity looked at Oliver with alarm in her eyes "we have to find him before he gets on that plane!"

"We will Felicity" Oliver promised "what's his location now?"

Before Felicity could respond, Preston's phone began to ring, his blood ran cold when he found it was Adam Ryde calling him "Sir?"

_Preston! _Adam's voice could be heard clearly _I have decided to go after another candidate and it should be a lot more promising_

Preston gave the other a confused look that said 'I don't know!' before answering "that's great Sir, I'm sorry that Felicity didn't work out"

_Oh, I haven't given up on my daughter and I don't expect you too either. I want you to find her and bring her back to me. We'll cure them at the same time!  
_  
Felicity grabbed the phone without a second thought and spoke pleadingly into the phone "Please don't hurt my mum! We could come to an arrangement of some sort!"

"Felicity!" Oliver took hold of her arm and spoke in a harsh whisper "what are you doing?"

Felicity ignored him and continued to speak "I'll leave Starling with you, we can go wherever you want and you can test on me however many times it takes to get this right, just please leave mum alone!"

_You're with Preston now?_

"Yes, he can take me to you and we can all leave together"

_What about your Arrow friend? I don't want Oliver Queen interrupting my work again!_

"He won't come! It'll be just you, Preston and I and we can all leave together, tonight even!" Felicity was beyond the point of trying to hold back her hysteria "I promise I'll go with you!"

_My plane leaves in an hour. I'm in a Café right now, meet me on the roof of the Jackson Hotel with Preston_

"I will Father" Felicity did her best to ignore Oliver's death glare "we'll see you soon"

Oliver grabbed the phone as soon as Felicity hung up and felt like smashing it to the ground, he was furious that Felicity would do something like this and he would not lose her to Adam Ryde again! He vented his frustrations to her, the Team and to Preston for not stopping her from talking to Adam

"Oliver, don't take this out on Preston, this was _my _plan!" Felicity pulled Preston away from Oliver

"Offering yourself to Adam again, subjecting yourself to possibly a whole _life time of being experimented on _and you–"

"Preston and I came up with this: we offer me up to Adam and take the cure"

Oliver waited for Felicity to continue with her plan but when she wouldn't he nearly yelled at her again "that's it? That's your plan? Just take the cure away from Adam and then what? He'll just let you go? He isn't going to let you leave quietly!"

"I didn't say it was well thought out!" Felicity shot back "maybe you could offer some suggestions?!"

"I just…Felicity I can't…" Oliver ran a hand through his hair "I can't be here, I need some air" he took a deep breath and stormed out of Felicity's house, Digg went after him, being the only one who might be able to talk to Oliver when he was this angry.

Felicity could feel her heart breaking slightly, she hated seeing Oliver so angry and knowing that it was her fault made everything ten times worse. Sara and Roy started to get talk about adding to Felicity's clearly unfinished plan until they came to something where they could all be involved and that would minimise the chances of either Felicity or Preston getting hurt. 

* * *

"Oliver!" John ran after Oliver who was half way down the street "wait up!"

"Not now Dig! Don't even talk to me right now!" _I will not lose her again! I _can't _let her go through with this!_

"Just come back to the house and we can talk about this" Digg offered "we can add on to Felicity's plan so no one will get hurt"

"I can't let Felicity go through with this! I can't use her as bait again! I WON'T!" Oliver roared and didn't care who heard him at this point "how can you be Okay with this?!"

"I'm not okay with it but we need to go back and talk it out and come up with a better plan than what Felicity has" John knew that Oliver agree with him on that and was happy with Oliver nodded and slowly walked back to Felicity's, deliberately dragging his feet on the ground not wanting to hear anything any of them said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Once Oliver was filled in by Sara and Roy on the new plan, Oliver looked at his watch "we only have half an hour until we have to meet Adam" he sighed and went to Felicity's room, she needed to know that he was going along with this; albeit reluctantly.

Oliver knocked on her bedroom door, Felicity answered it quietly and stepped aside to let him in "Uh oh" she shut the door behind him "you got angry face again"

"Yes" Oliver looked down at his shoes before sitting down on the edge of her bed "I do. Felicity, don't you trust me?"

"Oliver…what?" his question caught her off guard "Yes I trust you"

"Then why didn't you tell me that you were offering yourself up to Adam and going behind my back _again_? Because you're certainly giving me reasons not to trust you recently"

"Oliver I…I only did this to keep you safe! I thought that if I sorted this out myself then you wouldn't have to get hurt"

"We're partners, we're in this together! And I can't just stand by and let you do this"

Felicity stepped forward, knelt down in front of him and took his hand in hers "Sara and Roy have come up with…the other half of the plan, we have it all sorted out. We _are _a team and we'll work this out; nothing is going to happen to me" her voice was soft and he knew she was trying her best to convince him

"What if it does and you get hurt?"

"I'll be with Preston and Sara, Roy, Diggle _and _you will be on the side out of sight in case something happens"

"Felicity, I still don't feel that this is the right–" Oliver tried to get his feelings out but Felicity quickly cut him off

"You think I agreed with ever single plan of yours when we first started this whole thing? No! But I trusted you to figure out and do the right thing, sure I hated you coming home bruised and battered but I stitched you up and we tried again the next day!" Felicity nearly didn't feel Oliver's hand leave her own and cup her cheek as she continued talking "I am with you until the city is safe and all of this is over" unconsciously, Felicity shuffled closer to Oliver and her voice became thick with an intensity that scared her "and I would like to think that I can expect the same of you!"

If Felicity was going to continue, the rest of her sentence was blanked completely from her mind as Oliver closed the air between them and seized her lips hungrily with his own. If Oliver wasn't going to be able to tell her his feelings he was damn well going to show them instead.  
Oliver pulled Felicity closer to him and deepened the already passionate kiss, the hand that cupped her cheek wound its way into her hair as he slowly broke away "I trust you Felicity. I will go along with this but know that if I catch the slightest hint that something is wrong I will not hesitate to do whatever I must to get you out of there"

Felicity knew that he meant he would kill for her, like he did with The Count, but now that this was her father they were dealing with…it all became much deeper. Felicity kissed him softly again before standing up "Come on, let's get this over with" _so we can finish what we started _her eyes flashed with an intense need but she pushed it down and went out to meet the rest of Team Arrow and begin the, hopefully quick, meeting with Adam Ryde.

**A/N: I'm sorry that this took too long. My friends troubles are sorted but mine are not over and I'm not sure how long they will last. Writing is helping me escape and I am so happy to read all of your comments and reviews. Keep them coming!**

**A/N2: Some of you were wondering why I haven't yet included Felicity's mother. I**

**_did _include her into this story in an early draft but as time went on and the chapters took on a mind of their own I felt that it was too late and too cliché to bring her in. I feel that this story only has two more chapters in it until it's finished.**

**Don't worry I have plenty more ideas for Arrow fanfictions. Maybe a Roy/Felicity thing? Or another Olicity story…involving horses?!**

**Read and Review! Let me know what you think!**


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